Freedom for Me, Not for Thee
Lina Morales was hired by a telecommunications company in Central Florida, run by Muslims.
And she was fired by them. For eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Woman Fired For Eating ‘Unclean’ Meat.
“Are you telling me they fired you because you had something with ham on it?” Local 6 News reporter Mike Holfeld asked.
“Yes,” Morales said.
Holfeld asked, “A pizza and a BLT sandwich?”
“ Yes,” Morales said.
Local 6 News obtained the termination letter that states she was fired for refusing to comply with company policy that pork and pork products are not permissible on company premises.
However, by the company’s own admission to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that policy is not written, Local 6 News reported.
“Did you ever sign to or agree to anything that said I will not eat pork?” Holfeld asked Morales.
“Never,” Morales said. “When I got hired there, they said we don’t care what religion you are.”
Morales discovered that they really didn’t care which religion she was. But that BLT was over the line.
The CEO of Rising Star, Kujaatele Kweli, told Local 6 News that they have tried to create an office that accommodates anybody’s religion — not just Islam.
“Clearly you’re accommodating,” Holfeld said.
“Yes.” Kweli replied.
“And you have an ecumenical philosophy,” Holfeld said.
“ Yes,” Kweli replied.
“(Then) shouldn’t you be able to accommodate all faiths in the same lunch room?” Holfeld asked.
“We do, we can,” Kweli said.
“But you’ve dismissed one of your employees for eating pork in the lunch room,” Holfeld said.
“Yes, pork is considered unclean,” Kweli said.
The Koran forbids Muslims from eating pork. And according to Kweli, Morales and every employee at the company is advised of the no pork policy.
“Our point of view is to respect the laws of the land and the laws of the land as I understand it is to accommodate people’s right to practice their religions if you can,” Kweli said.
Notice how Kweli inverts the idea of “freedom of religion.” Sure! You have complete freedom of religion! As long as you follow the rules of Islam…