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  1. #122
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
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    Football coach refuses to lose religion, but will he lose his job?
    by Todd Starnes ˇPublished October 19, 2015

    The Washington state football coach defied the Bremerton School District on Oct. 16 by dropping to a knee and praying at midfield after the Friday night football game.

    “I’m going to be bold in my faith, and fight the good fight,” he told the Kitsap Sun. “It’s beyond humbling to have so much support. Whateverhappens -- happens.”

    The Bremerton School District issued a stern letter to the coach just hours before the football game – warning him not to pray.

    “Strict adherence is required and expected, and violations cannot be tolerated,” school district attorney Jeffrey Ganson wrote in a letter to Liberty Institute attorney Hiram Sasser.

    Liberty Institute is representing the coach. They asked the school for a religious accommodation – but were denied.

    For years Coach Kennedy would walk to midfield and pray after the football game had ended. He was inspired to pray after watching the faith-based football film, “Facing the Giants.

    ”In September the school district opened an investigation – fearing that the post-game prayers might violate the Constitution – and shortly thereafter – they banned his gridiron conversation with the Almighty.

    The district forbade him from praying in public or mentioning anything religious in the locker room. They also banned him from kneeling or bowing his head.

    The district also demanded that his inspirational messages to the team be secular.

    Attorney Sasser told me what happened on Friday night during the Homecoming game -- was akin to a made-for-television movie.

    After the final whistle blew, the coach walked to the 50-yard line and took a knee.The opposing team saw the coach and rushed back onto the field – along with a number of their fans.

    “He had no idea he was surrounded by the opposing team,” Sasser told me. “It was a beautiful sight.”

    As homecoming fireworks exploded in the air, the coach prayed and the fans cheered. "It was an amazing, amazing time,” Sasser told me.

    His courage even drew the attention of famed NFL coach and fellow Christian Tony Dungy.

    “I appreciate Coach Kennedy staying true to his convictions,” Dungy wrote on Twitter. “Glad I never faced anything like this in my career.”

    So the question is what happens now? Will Coach Kennedy be reprimanded? Will he be fired?


    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/...-not-pray.html
    Last edited by Jolie Rouge; 02-06-2016 at 11:16 AM.
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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  3. #123
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
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    Muslim Workers Outraged After Company Makes a Big Change to Its Prayer Policy
    Jan. 18, 2016 9:08am Billy Hallowell

    Muslim employees are outraged by a policy change that was recently implemented by Ariens Manufacturing, an equipment manufacturer based in Brillion, Wisconsin, as employees can now only leave to pray during meal breaks.

    According to WBAY-TV, until last Thursday, Muslims employed by the company were permitted to leave the production line two times during their shifts to pray, as a total of five prayers per day are required by the Islamic faith.


    Muslim employees would dole their duties out to fellow employees during these prayer times, which lasted five minutes.

    But Ariens Manufacturing now wants Muslims to pray during meal breaks instead — something that Islamic adherents are pushing back against.

    While the new policy impacts 53 workers, just 10 of them said they will stay in their current role under the new regulations, according to WBAY-TV. http://wbay.com/2016/01/15/new-praye...ms-unemployed/

    “We are asking employees to pray during scheduled breaks in designated prayer rooms,” the company said in a statement. “Our manufacturing environment does not allow for unscheduled breaks in production.”

    Muslims employees said that praying only during meal times goes against their faith due to the fact that this doesn’t align with the proper times for invocations, with some saying that they were handed unemployment papers if they refused to comply. Ibrahim Mehemmed, a former equipment painter, is one former worker who said that he was forced to leave.

    “We pray by the time,” he told WBAY-TV. “So they say, ‘If you don’t pray at the break time,’ they give us this [unemployment] paper to just leave.”

    Ariens Manufacturing has said, though, that employees like Mehemmed are welcome to come back to work if they abide by the policy, or if they find shifts that don’t coincide with their prayer times.

    “We respect their faith, and we respect their decision regardless of their choice to return to work or not,” the company said in a statement. http://wbay.com/2016/01/15/new-praye...ms-unemployed/

    Read more about the controversy here. http://wbay.com/2016/01/15/new-praye...ms-unemployed/

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016...prayer-policy/

    comments

    i work with muslims. They get up, leave, go to a mosque, pray, then come back after a stop for drinks or food. Takes about 45 minutes. Then they take a normal lunch, and repeat the prayer process 3 times. They work about 3 hours out of 8 hour days. the rest of us have to pull their load. Say anything and we’re the racists jerks…nothing about muslims are easy or understandable for that reason.

    ..

    Assimilate or leave. Work or be unemployed. Really simple issues. Once again, the Muslims show how their lifestyle is not compatible with American society.

    ..

    I’m no expert on the Muslim faith, but if you have to pray towards Mecca 5 times a day, why not do it based on Mecca’s time zone as well?

    ..

    …and we are to believe that these are the “moderate” Muslims?

    ..

    I guarantee that if Christian prayers were affected this would all of a sudden become a BS “religious liberty” issue.

    For the people who think these prayer breaks are BS – that’s how most of us feel about every type of “religious exemption” – it’s all BS

    ..

    I understand that there is leeway given to muslims by their religion on both eating halal and prayer times. If times or food is not available the faithful muslims may pray at different times and may eat what is available.
    But being muslims, and always demanding that everything be changed to accomodate only them, I can see the problem. I believe that work rules against praying any time that appeals to them make it unavailable. Change your job, not the rules !
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  4. #124
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
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    Ariens Co. fires seven Muslim employees over unscheduled prayer breaks
    Feb 3, 2016

    Ariens Co. says it has fired seven Muslim employees for taking unscheduled prayer breaks, and 14 others have resigned over the issue.

    More than 50 Somali immigrant Muslims at the Brillion manufacturer recently protested the company's enforcement of a policy of two 10-minute breaks per work shift — without accommodations for unscheduled prayer time. The Muslim employees wanted the manufacturer of snowblowers and lawn mowers to continue a previous, more lenient practice of allowing them to leave their work stations at different times — such as at dawn and sunset — to pray as their faith requires of them.

    Ariens said it was sticking with a policy that does not accommodate special prayer breaks, despite having bent the rules earlier.

    Wednesday, Ariens said 32 of the Muslim employees have chosen to stay with the company and work within the break policy, 14 had resigned and seven were fired for taking unscheduled prayer time. "We handled this with the same straightforward approach we use every day at Ariens Company. Recognizing there are language barriers and cultural differences, we allowed for extra time. We would have liked for more of the employees to stay, however, we respect their faith, we respect the work they have done for Ariens Company, and we respect their decisions," the company said.

    The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based group that has been an advocate for the Muslims at Ariens, says it may file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal employment discrimination laws. "We have several options on the table, and we will look at all of them. I think the EEOC is one of the first moves that we normally make," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

    The Muslim employees at Ariens have said their religious practices, rather than the company's break schedule, should determine their prayer times.

    They also have said the brief periods of prayer would not be disruptive to the company's production line, although with more Muslims in the workplace, Ariens said unscheduled work breaks could cost the company millions of dollars annually in lost productivity.

    This time of year, the company's 900 employees in Brillion are balancing the production of snowblowers and equipment for the upcoming lawn and garden season.

    Hussein said his organization had one conversation with Ariens Co., but that there was no point in scheduling further talks because the company would not change its position. Now, "We will definitely look at all of the legal options. We are just getting everything lined up for what we are going to do next," he said.

    Hussein said the EEOC has ruled in favor of Muslims in some similar cases and that out-of-court agreements were reached with employers.

    He said Ariens Co. asked the fired employees to sign a statement saying they had violated the company's break policy by taking unscheduled prayer time, but that most of them refused to do it. "We are encouraging them to apply for unemployment benefits," Hussein said. "But at the end of the day, we want these people to have their jobs and to continue working there."

    By law, an employer must provide "reasonable accommodations" for religious practices, provided they do not result in a hardship for the employer.

    Ariens has prayer rooms for its workers on their regular, twice-per-shift, 10-minute breaks. Additionally, the company said, it was looking for ways to move Muslim employees to work shifts that would better conform with their prayer times. Ariens and the Council on American Islamic Relations agreed that the dispute has stirred up anti-Muslim reactions. Hussein said he's received death threats from similar disputes.

    Ariens Co. President Dan Ariens said he was surprised at some of the social media comments. "People in the Facebook world say things they shouldn't. Most of the negativity is aimed at the Muslim population, and I am more worried about that than our business," Ariens said in a recent interview.

    http://www.jsonline.com/business/ari...367535761.html
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  5. #125
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    Religion and work has never mixed, and I'm old. Now the true terrorists want special times to stick their A$$ in the air at work? I want reimbursement for every Good Friday I took off in the Afternoon to be PAID by all previous employers now. Will never happen, and some places have come lenient to all you to take off, if they know you are devoted, and not just taking the afternoon off. Of course, without pay.

    So sick of this crap.

    Going Off the Grid!

  6. #126
    Jolie Rouge's Avatar
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    Judge to NYPD: Pay Muslim officer who sued over beard length
    CBS News - 23 hrs ago

    NEW YORK -- A Muslim police officer, who sued the New York Police Department over a policy limiting beards allowed for religious reasons, would face irreparable harm without protection from the courts, a judge said Wednesday as he ordered the city to reinstate the officer's pay and benefits a day after he was suspended and escorted from police headquarters.


    U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel criticized the city repeatedly before finding it was probable Officer Masood Syed would succeed and issuing a temporary restraining order that will remain in place until a July 8 hearing.

    The department says it bans beards as a safety measure so gas masks fit tightly across faces but allows beards for religious reasons up to 1 millimeter in length.

    The judge, who is bearded, said 1 millimeter of hair exists when a man is unshaven for a day or two. He said it seemed the policy is enforced haphazardly.

    "I am very relieved," Syed said afterward as he celebrated his 32nd birthday with a half dozen fellow officers supporting him in the Manhattan court.

    Brooklyn patrol officer Rohail Kahlid, who has a beard about a half-an-inch long, agreed that enforcement can be arbitrary.

    "It becomes an issue on and off. It depends on who's the boss," Khalid told the New York Post.

    Syed said two uniformed supervisors escorted him from Manhattan NYPD headquarters where he works as a law clerk to administrative judges, sometimes preparing legal documents for the police commissioner about disciplinary issues.

    "It was extremely humiliating," Syed said. "I felt insulted, frankly."
    New York Police Department Officer Masood Syed, a practicing Muslim, leaves Manhattan federal court in New York Wednesday, June 22, 2016. Larry Neumeister, AP
    Syed said he has maintained a 1-inch beard for most of his 10-year career, only occasionally drawing critical comments. He said he hoped his lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, would help over 100 police employees who find the religious exception to the department's no-beard policy insufficient because they say the length of the beard allowed is not reasonable.

    The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages and a court order banning the NYPD from enforcing its beard policy until it provides reasonable religious accommodations.

    City attorney Michael Fleming said the beard ban was necessary. Besides for religious reasons, exceptions exist for undercover duties and medical conditions. Occupational Health and Safety Administration regulations require annual fit-testing and prohibit respirators for employees with facial hair.

    The judge became impatient as he questioned Fleming about the policy and the department's failure to respond to a December 2015 request by 37 police officers for an exception to the no-beard policy.

    "Let's play 20 questions," Castel said at one point.

    "The court is troubled by the fact it cannot get an answer," he said at another.

    Attorney Joshua Moskovitz, representing Syed, told Castel the department's policy violates the First Amendment and threatens Syed's job, his retirement benefits and his reputation. He said the department took Syed's shield and weapon Tuesday before he "was escorted out in front of his friends and colleagues."

    As he announced his ruling, Castel referenced a November 2013 ruling by the late-Judge Harold Baer Jr. after an Orthodox Jewish officer sued the department after it forced him out because he insisted on growing a 1-inch beard.

    In that case, the city argued that the 1-millimeter rule was consistent with counterterrorism and emergency preparedness goals, but Baer found the rule was applied unevenly and was too broad to satisfy the law.



    It is a safety issue - you can not properly wear a gas mask over facial hair.
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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