Donald Vander Boon Fr. Mark Hodges
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 13, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture dealt a blow to the previous Obama administration’s silencing of pro-marriage views in the workplace.
Last week, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a strong policy emphasizing latitude for believers to express their views at work.
“Opinions about same-sex marriage, gender identity, and sexual morality are all matters of public importance,” the policy states. “USDA respects the First Amendment rights of USDA personnel, as well as non-USDA personnel working at facilities inspected by USDA, to share their varying viewpoints on these topics, whether through oral discussion, the display or distribution of literature, or other means.”
The document makes official a wide definition of sincerely held beliefs. “Under federal regulations, religious beliefs include theistic beliefs (such as those that include a belief in God) as well as non-theistic ‘moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.’”
“We are pleased that the USDA is as committed to respecting the First Amendment as it is to food quality,” Travis Weber, director
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