wfn.org | Focus on Lieberman's Sabbath stand

[APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com]

August 20, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

U.S. Vice Presidential Candidate Lieberman 
Highlights the Pitfalls of Sabbath-keeping on the 
Job

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.    The choice of Senator 
Joseph Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, as Vice President 
Al Gore's running mate in the United States 
presidential campaign represents a chance to 
"highlight the critical lack of legal protection for 
Sabbath-keepers in the workplace," says Seventh-day 
Adventist attorney Mitchell Tyner.

"Lieberman's Sabbath beliefs have drawn a huge 
amount of media interest," says Tyner, an associate 
in the legal department of the Adventist Church's 
international headquarters. "But what these reports 
fail to mention is that other, less prominent 
Americans have no effective legal protection when 
faced with the choice between their employment or 
their Sabbath beliefs." 

Every day in the United States, says Tyner, two or 
three Adventists will lose their job or be refused 
employment because they choose to follow the 
dictates of conscience rather than work on Saturday.  

Tyner says that there is a certain irony that while 
public attention is focused on Lieberman's Sabbath 
stand, a bill, co-sponsored by Lieberman and 
intended to increase workplace accommodation of 
Sabbath-keepers, is "quietly languishing in 
Congress."

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA) was 
introduced into the Senate in September 1999, and in 
the House of Representatives in April 2000.  If 
passed, the law would ensure that employers have a 
meaningful obligation to reasonably accommodate the 
religious practices of their employees, unless to do 
so would cause the employer "undue hardship." "This 
is an essential piece of legislation," says Tyner. 
"It is balanced, acknowledging the needs of both 
employers and employees, and it has the support of a 
broad array of religious and civil rights
groups."   

"The historic and symbolic significance of having a 
Jewish American on a presidential ticket is 
undeniable," adds Tyner.  "But unless WRFA is 
passed, giving everyday, working Americans the same 
opportunity as Lieberman to have his or her 
religious beliefs accommodated on the job, then what 
really has been won?"

Richard Foltin, legislative director for the 
American Jewish Committee and chair of a D.C. 
coalition that spearheaded the WRFA drafting and 
lobbying efforts, told ANN that time is running out 
for WRFA to be passed before the 106th Congress 
adjourns in October this year. 

"While we're hopeful that at least a hearing on the 
bill will be scheduled, we know that Congress has a 
crowded legislative agenda between now and 
adjournment." If the bill fails to pass before the 
end of the Session, says Foltin, it will have to be 
reintroduced at the beginning of the new 
Congressional Session early in 2001.  

Lieberman is "lucky" according to Alan Reinach, 
Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director for 
the Adventist Church in California. "He has a 'boss' 
who knew he wanted Sabbath off, and agreed to 'hire' 
him anyway," says Reinach. "Thousands of Americans 
are not so lucky. When they tell a prospective 
employer they can't work on the Sabbath, they don't 
get hired. Thousands more lose their jobs each year 
when their schedules are changed to require work in 
conflict with their faith."

The Adventist Church, a Protestant Christian World 
Communion founded in 1863, teaches the biblical 
observance of Saturday as a "day of rest."  Like 
Orthodox Jews, Adventists mark this 24-hour period 
from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.  There 
are more than 25 million Adventist Christians, 
including over 11 million baptized adult members, in 
205 countries around the world. Of these, almost one
million live in North America. (235/2000)