The McNulty Memo (Monthly Musings on Faith and Public Life)
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles looking at Christian faith in the public square. This is part of the Institute’s Center for Faith & Public Life initiative.
Have you heard the story about the Christian college student and part-time coffee barista who was fired from her job for talking about her faith because it made her coworkers feel uncomfortable and unsafe? Last October, Paige Rogers, a sophomore at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, received a text message from her employer, Heine Brothers Coffee, notifying her that she was being terminated immediately for violating its workplace policies.
Her offense?
“It was reported and confirmed,” the company explained, “that you engaged in conversations in the workplace where you expressed religious beliefs in a manner that was unwelcome (sic) and offensive to others. These conversations created discomfort among team members and contributed to a work environment inconsistent with our company values and code of conduct.”
Gotta love the reference to “values” while rejecting religious speech, but I digress. Legal action has been initiated.
First, a word or two about what Heine Brothers described as its “careful review” and “thorough investigation.” Ms. Rogers was never contacted about the allegations before she received her termination notice. A one-sided review of allegations is neither careful nor thorough. I suppose from the company’s perspective, her side of the story didn’t matter. Coworkers felt uncomfortable—ipso facto, she’s done. If another employee had talked about her same-sex relationship, gender transition, or Muslim faith, would she have been sacked because it made a Christian colleague uncomfortable? In fact, the Christian employee may have been sacked for intolerance and daring to mention his or her discomfort with such communication.
The company revealed another troubling fact about how the investigation was conducted. It informed Ms. Rogers that it “watch (sic) the footage of all interactions.” Ms. Rogers wisely texted back, “Would you mind sending me the footage because I’m not clear on how what I said was discriminatory.” Heine Brothers, of course, declined this request.
I don’t know about you, but this bothers me. Taping workplace conversations may prove to be valuable for a person who is wrongly accused of harassment. But are employees aware they are being recorded and, if so, what effect does this practice have on the everyday casual banter of coworkers? The choice seems clear: keep your mouth shut or run the risk of saying something on a host of topics that the boss doesn’t like. At a minimum, this is probably a good question to ask in a job interview: “Will you be taping everything I say and do?”
Returning to the substance of this matter, the coffee shop’s defenders say that Ms. Rogers wasn’t fired because she was a Christian. She lost her job because she talked like one. This obviously is the central problem. If Christians must hide their beliefs in the personal interactions of public life, and if the Christian faith may not be verbalized because the Gospel is offensive to some ears or makes a person feel uncomfortable, then Christianity has been effectively excluded from our shared community.
And remember, Ms. Rogers didn’t initiate the conversations. An employee may need to be admonished if he or she is causing a distraction by aggressively evangelizing colleagues, but that’s not what happened in this Kentucky coffee shop. She worked at another Heine Brothers location in her freshman year of college and was rehired when she returned in the fall. The record does not indicate that Ms. Rogers was looking to pounce on potential converts. She was asked some questions and she answered them honestly. The Apostle Peter instructs us to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 1:15). Every Christian is familiar with the weight of Peter’s guilt when he three times denied
knowing the Savior.
This sad episode reminds me of a scene in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Upon learning from Mr. Beaver that Aslan is a great lion, Susan admitted feeling “rather nervous about meeting a lion.” And Lucy asked, “Then, he isn’t safe?” Mr. Beaver responded, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Christians should not be forced to hide their faith in the workplace, schoolhouse, the public square, the sports field, or other shared space in public life. Whether someone feels unsafe, offended, or uncomfortable about what is said should not be the test of permissible speech. And thanks to the Constitution, it isn’t in many circumstances.
In reality, none of us are safe apart from God’s saving grace. Staking our eternal destiny on anything other than the hope of the Gospel should feel uncomfortable, like wearing shoes that don’t fit. Ms. Rogers chose the caring option by honestly responding to questions about God’s revealed truth. American public life should encourage—not punish—sincere conversations about what matters most.