The Supreme Court has agreed to decide a case called Groff v. DeJoy. This one could shove a massive stake through the heart of secular society and commerce. DeJoy is a Christian who did not like having to work on Sundays for the post office. So he quit his job and sued the post office. He demands a special religious dispensation for Christians who do not want to work on Sundays. Vox writes:
The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear Groff v. DeJoy, a case that could give religious conservatives an unprecedented new ability to dictate how their workplaces operate, and which workplace rules they will refuse to follow.
Yet Groff is also likely to overrule a previous Supreme Court decision that treated the interests of religious employees far more dismissively than federal law suggests that these workers should be treated.
The case, in other words, presents genuinely tricky questions about the limits of accommodating an employee’s religious beliefs. But those questions will be resolved by a Supreme Court that has shown an extraordinary willingness to bend the law in ways that benefit Christian-identified conservatives.
That could lead to a scenario in which the Court announces a new legal rule that disrupts the workplace — and that potentially places far too many burdens on non-religious employees.
A federal law requires employers to “reasonably accommodate” their workers’ religious beliefs and practices unless doing so would lead to “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.” But Hardison established that this law does not require employers to “bear more than a de minimis cost” when it provides religious accommodations (the Latin phrase “de minimis” refers to a burden that is so small or trifling as to be unworthy of consideration).
One question is why should a person’s religion make any difference at all? Why treat religious believers better than the rest of us? What is wrong with equal treatment? One could argue that atheists should be entitled to every benefit that Christians are entitled to, but that is a huge loser for atheists and the non-religious community. Christians would be delighted to discriminate atheists and non-believers right out of their jobs in return for a few Christians maybe occasionally facing the same. Among the non-believers, I do not sense anywhere near the same bigotry, hostility and intolerance against believers that Christian nationalists hold toward non-believers.
There are damn good reasons to defend secularism and resist the greedy, morally bankrupt American Christofascist theocratic movement. That movement undeniably intends to elevate religious freedom above all others. Then they will use that advantage to cut down whoever or whatever stands in the way of full blown American Christian Sharia law run by an intolerant, bigoted White male-dominated Christian Taliban.
Once the Republican Christofascist Supreme Court guts secular protections, the bigotry, racism, intolerance and hate can come gushing out and enjoy legal protection. Targeted groups prominently include women, racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBQT community and atheists, agnostics and non-Christians. Those deemed unworthy will feel the sanctimonious wrath of an enraged Old Testament God. Bigoted, wealthy White heterosexual men (the Christian Taliban) are going to have some of the best times in human history that morally rotted, empowered wealthy men could possibly have. America under Christian Sharia and the Christian Taliban will be a hellscape much worse than the hellscape Musk has turned Twitter into.
As usual, what about the Republican rank and file? Do they support this or are neutral, downplay it, deny it is happening, and/or are they just mostly unaware? I bet that ~75% would say they are neutral or support it but it will not be nearly bad as critics like me say it will be and the remaining ~25% would deny it is happening in any significant way. Recent poll data indicates that ~75% of the Republican rank and file support what the current Supreme Court is doing. That data suggests there some non-trivial level of rank and file knowledge and acceptance.
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