wfn.org | Religious Guidelines Applauded

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (273
notes).

Note 272 modified by UMNS on Aug. 18, 1997 at 15:09 Eastern (3486 characters).

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                         460(10-71B){272}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722          Aug. 15, 1997

Leaders praise president's guidelines
protecting workers' religious freedoms

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- The guidelines protecting freedom of
religious expression for civilian federal workers announced by
President Clinton here Aug. 14 are being heralded by many.
     "We've never had anything like this for the federal, state
or private workplace," said the Rev. Oliver Thomas, special
council on religious and civil liberties for the National Council
of Churches (NCC).
     He was part of the drafting committee drawn from many
religious and civil rights groups. Also included on the committee
were representatives of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom
of the Christian Legal Society, People for the American Way, as
well as Jewish, Baptist and Evangelical Christian groups.
     Although the rules only pertain to civilian employees of the
executive branch of the federal government, Thomas said he
believes state governments easily could adapt the guidelines for
their own use and private employers could find them helpful.
     Clinton said the guidelines protect federal employees "who
engage in religious speech as well as those who do not," spell
out the protection from discrimination by federal employers on
the basis of religion, and clarify the expectation that federal
"agencies must reasonably accommodate employees' religious
practices."
     Examples cited include the wearing of religious symbols and
religiously compelled clothing. Speaking of religious beliefs in
informal settings is protected as long as it does not continue if
a participant says that he or she wishes it to stop.  Likewise
issuing invitations to religious ceremonies by federal employees
and supervisors is permitted as long as attendance is voluntary.
     Thomas explained the underlying intention as, "you may be
the religious person you are, but not impose it on others through
harassment or intimidation."
     Not only is the United Methodist Church a member of the NCC,
but the denomination's Board of Church and Society is part of the
Coalition for Religious Freedom in the Workplace -- a group of
more than 30 organizations that includes Muslims, Christians,
Jews and others -- working for legislation to strengthen
religious accommodation in the private workplace.
     The guidelines for the federal workplace were the third in a
series of pronouncements by Clinton on religious liberty. He
endorsed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993. Congress
passed it that year, but it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme
Court earlier this summer. His second effort was guidelines for
public schools regarding religious expression in that context.
     United Methodist Bishop Felton Edwin May, praised the
President's efforts in a statement issued from Old Mutare,
Zimbabwe in Africa, where he and 40 area United Methodists joined
others in celebrating the work of Africa University, the first
United Methodist university on that continent.
     "The president is to be commended for his tenacity in
bringing religious freedom to the forefront for federal
employees," May said. "We hold the government responsible for the
protection of the rights of the people to freedom of speech,
religion, assembly, and communication without fear of reprisal."
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