Below is from a recent news story on Fox News:
A Tulsa police officer and devout Christian is suing his department after being punished for refusing to go to a mosque for a mandatory cultural event.
Police Capt. Paul Campbell Fields, a 17-year veteran, was docked two weeks’ pay, transferred, reduced to the graveyard shift and made ineligible for promotions for at least a year, after he told his chief his faith made it impossible for him to attend a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at the Islamic Cultural Society of Tulsa, according to the lawsuit.
Fields, 43, is a non-denominational Christian, who quoted Scripture in legal explanation of his insubordination.
“This event is compelling me to go to a venue where a group of individuals is prepared to discuss their (Islamic) faith,” Fields said during a May 2012 deposition, the transcript of which was obtained by FoxNews.com. “And in my faith, I have a duty to proselytize my faith to people (who) don’t subscribe to my faith. I can’t do that in uniform. And so therein lies the conflict or moral dilemma I face.”
Fields’ attorney, Robert Muise of The American Freedom Law Center, elaborated, “He was going to be in a place where people were going to refer to Jesus Christ as merely a prophet and not his Lord and Savior.
“And he wouldn’t be able to respond to them in any way,” Muise added. “That was very troubling to him.”
Am I utterly convinced that he is wrong? Yes! Why do I think so? The only way in which this country can function with freedom of religion is if its officials, including is police supervisors, are willing to deal neutrally with all faiths. That means that they need to be willing to attend those public relations events that are important in order for those in public service to gain the trust of those whom they serve. And, that is they key phrase, “those whom they serve.” A police officer is NOT a private individual nor a private business owner, but the representative of a State which guarantees freedom of religion to all whom they serve. Islam has dhimmi rules, but Christianity does not.
What is dhimmi?
A non-Muslim living under the protection of an Islamic state. They are exempt from the duties of Islam like military service and zakat but instead pay an alternative tax to the Islamic state called jizyah.
But, under the Constitution of the United States of America, there is no such thing. All citizens, and resident aliens, regardless of their beliefs, are subject to military service or to non-military alternative service. All citizens are under the protection of the Constitution, regardless of their religion. In fact, the Constitution protects their religion. Various religious beliefs are protected to the point that those who serve in public service may not, in any way, exclude one religion in favor of another. Thus, if a public official–which includes police, fire, and other personnel of government–is willing to attend a religious event for one community, then they need to–without prejudice–be willing to attend the religious even of another community with whom they personally disagree. While it is true that no citizen loses their rights, it is also true that those citizens who enter public service have a set of Constitutional duties that supersede the rights they would normally have as a private individual. Thus, a USA citizen who is a soldier cannot refuse to deal with a village elder in Afghanistan who is a Muslim, based on religious objections to Islam. Their entrance into public service moves them into the arena of those who are covered by the Constitutional provisions regarding government rather than the provisions regarding private individuals. This is where the deputy made his mistake. I agree with all the penalties meted out to him because to do otherwise would be to undercut the very Constitution that I swore to uphold when I was sworn into the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
I agree with you completely, once you begin a job with the government (whether it be local, state or federal) you take on the responsibilities of a public servant. Those in the law enforcement realm are there specifically to serve and protect. In the eyes of the law everyone is supposed to be equal. The sad part is there are so many people now-a-days who misinterpret or try to misuse the constitution. The constitution does not give any person the right to do whatever they want and even the rights it does grant have limits.
It’s crazy how many people think the constitution grants them the right to do whatever they want regardless of the situation
Also agree with you. Capt. Fields’s objection is clumsy and appears to stretch the truth of the situation, as well. I doubt that the people of the Islamic Cultural Society of Tulsa were proselytizing that day. Where does Fields’s lawyer get the idea that people at the Islamic Center “were going to refer to Jesus Christ as merely a prophet and not his Lord and Savior”? I highly doubt that they included any such “catechizing” in this event! It looks like they were just inviting the police to come and receive their thanks and, well, appreciation. Sounds like a fine gesture to me, one that helps build civic goodwill. It’s really unfortunate that Fields felt it necessary to be such a, well, jerk in response, thereby making Christians look bad, and Christians in public service, at that.
Disagree with you. His duty is to respond to places where a crime is committed, he stated that he does that. He does not have to go to a Mosque to be talked to about their religion. That is not in his job description. Even if they were not going to talk about religion, he doesn’t have to go there unless there is a crime being committed. They should have gotten someone else to go. He fulfills his job duties and now is being forced to do something that is not a part of his job duties and goes against his conscience. He should sue and, if this is still our great free country, he will win. He’s not making Christians look bad. God does not want Christians going into the temples of other religions. That would be like a husband having an affair with another woman.
Also, what Captain Field is disputing is that he would be forced to endure things of their religion such as going to the mosque, whatever they have to say about Islam, their religious icons, when he is not allowed to reciprocate and share about his beliefs with them because he is on duty. Not fair. And they wouldn’t be going to a Christian church, if the Christians asked them to come to the same type of thing. Separation of church and state gets brought up if it’s the Christian religion being talked about but never when it’s a different religion. No–someone else should have been asked to go. It didn’t have to be him.
Why is it that islam is constantly being thrown into our faces now???? The officer is doing his duty when he responds to a call in the area and performs his job. His job description does not say that he has to go to gatherings and stand on display as a slave to islam while they tell you who they are and why you are standing there because you are their infidel and they have rule over you. His job did not call him to be there out of service to the community. It is just another way for the muslims to try to take over the community.
Well, you have most certainly escalated the rhetoric. Look at the story again. It was an attempt by the Islamic community to HONOR law enforcement. From where do you get the “slave” rhetoric and the “infidel” rhetoric? In fact, there is no evidence that they were going to refer to Jesus Christ as merely a prophet, as the police officer claims, nor that they were going to try to proselytize law enforcement. Rather, in these type of events (whether Christian or non-Christian) religious rhetoric is kept to an absolute minimum, normally only a prayer of blessing, at most. The office over-reacted to something that had not happened and was not likely to happen.