Holy Crap: Texas Diversity Edition
Okay, so a guy in Sherman, Texas, has been writing and sending out the company newsletter every morning for eight years. No complaints. Jef Mindrup was a good employee and faithfully did his job.
Until suddenly one day out of the blue, Jef is ordered by his boss to include a Bible verse in each morning newsletter.
On March 14, 2012, company co-founder Jody Goodman, a member of the board and vice president of staffing, corporate travel and diversity, no less, ordered him “to add Bible quotes to The Morning Coffee and to start doing so the next day,” Mindrup says in the complaint.
Jef felt uncomfortable doing that. He’s a Buddhist. You know, the people who believe that all paths to God are equally valid. Jef responded —
“Jody, I am unable to add quotes or scriptures from the Bible as you’ve requested. I have always taken great care to avoid any quotes that would offend others as well as my own personal religious beliefs.”
He was fired the next day. But, I am certain they did it in a real Christian-like manner.
He’s suing.
By the way, I danced over to the google to find the company and here’s the listing. Please note the “This site may be hacked” notice.
But, if you’d like to let them know how Christians should behave, here ya go.
In Goodman Networks defense, they claimed they fired him “pursuant to an apparently pre-planned and well-thought out reduction in force.” Yeah, right. Our cow just died, Goodman, so we won’t be needing your bull.
Thanks to Old Mayfly for the heads up.
Hmm, looks like a “closely held” company trying to establish its religious bona fides. Wonder who they want to discriminate against besides Buddhists?
1Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion. -Steven Weinberg
2The guy could have had some fun with this. There’s a lot of really weird stuff in the Bible. Here’s one good site: http://www.commonatheist.com/biblequotes.htm
Or this: http://www.11points.com/Books/11_Things_The_Bible_Bans,_But_You_Do_Anyway
3Off topic but check out the number of Goodmans on the Board of Directors, Executive Team, and apparently holding key positions in the organization (Jay Goodman). Very strange.
For those outside of TX, this is an at will employment state. Employers can pretty much fire you for any reason except for something expressly ‘illegal’. Hence the ‘reduction in force’ rationale rather than ‘non-compliance with religious rules’.
4Sounds like they’re Hobby Lobby copycats trying to establish their “religious” foundation
5for denying employees health coverage for contraception, or whatever they dream up.
God save us from the zealots.
So when a dog kills the family cat in the back yard and drags the carcass into the house, will the owner reward it and tell it that it’s a good dog?
Jody Goodman, are you going to church next Sunday with the expectation that God is going to tell you that you’re a good Christian?
6I’m not sure about Houston, but here in NYC, Goodman is usually a Jewish name. Just sayin’.
7Beside the point, but…a company specializes in wireless networks got its own website hacked? Not exactly a great endorsement for their skills, much less their HR environment.
8This company has been around for a while and is blatant about promoting its’ Christian outlook. They took a hit when Comcast took over cable in the area. I am pretty sure this is the one that was in the Clear Lake area. Back when I was begging for work I checked them out to my disappointment. Sounds like they targeted this guy. Tell him to do something and he doesn’t so they can fire him. Even if it involves religion. I bet they argue he disobeyed an order. That is a valid firing offense for the State of Texas BTW.
9JJ – Love the “Courthouse News Service” website.
I see where the Baptist Church in Park Place is also involved in litigation. Because “they aren’t Baptist enough”.
These Goodman folks are just plain mean.
This is another Hobby Lobby waiting to espouse “their strongly held religious beliefs” against anything, and everything.
10Looks to me like is God is playing “names with irony” again.
11“pursuant to an apparently pre-planned and well-thought out reduction in force.”
Ain’t that just dandy! And a hell of a whopper! I live in a right to work state and that is the handy little bromide they keep in a slingshot. I’ve seen this used when I was to meet a friend of mine for lunch. She worked at guess where, the HQ
12that part of my contribution just took off and flew like a bird!
of VA Right to Work. As she was leaving her desk for lunch, the supervisor came over and told her not to return, then shuffled her daughter into the desk chair.
Good luck to this guy. He’s gonna need it.
13You know those stores that have the Jeesus fish symbol prominently displayed on their sign? I was warned that if there’s a fish out front then there’s probably something fishy in the back.
14Don A, That fish on the sign is a shark.
I’ve been bitten a few times by these holy munchers and I would never, never, use a company that had that symbol. The legendary Joe Bob Briggs did an article about Attack of the Fish People that covers this issue nicely.
15Planned reduction in staff? Try Revelations 21-8 – the part about liars.
16Isn’t it odd how only Christians (or Kristians) have the right to refuse to follow an employer’s orders based on their religious beliefs? I’ll bet the Goodman Networks folks also advocate for the right of Kristian pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills…
17I’m with LynnN. The guy coulda had lots and lots of fun putting Bible verses in the daily newsletter. Lots and lots.
18I hope their product is better than their Christianity.
19Assuming this company has 15 or more employees and there was someone else who could pull the quotes, sounds like Jef might want to take a trip down to the EEOC.
20Just yesterday I received Report from the Capital, the magazine for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The lead article was about workers’ complaints to the EEOC about religious issues in the workplace and new guidelines issued by the EEOC that apply to businesses that employ 15 or more employees. If they have headquarters in Houston and an office in Sherman, I would think they have at least 15 employees.
I have mixed feelings about people doing secular things and proclaiming their religion. I have no problem with people advocating for their faith in a way that respects others. But no one is perfect and when someone loudly proclaims their faith (whatever it is) and does not live up to it, people tend to judge the faith by its adherents. That’s why I hesitate to put a Christian bumper sticker on my car; afraid someone would see me do something wrong
and judge Christians by it.
Example: Politicians who quote the Bible to cut food stamp benefits.
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