PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Human Rights Commission has sided with two postal carriers who say a Christian-themed column in a union newsletter amounts to religious discrimination.
The pair targeted a monthly column entitled "Directions From God´s Handbook" in a monthly newsletter distributed to more than 100,000 members of the National Rural Letter Carriers´ Association.
One recent column urged readers to bring the "good news of Christ´s salvation to non-Christians," and another said God´s people are those who accept Jesus.
Dick Springer of Portland, who describes himself as a "nonbeliever," said the column is offensive to him. "The organization takes my money and uses it to proselytize for religious beliefs which are not mine," he told Maine Public Radio.
Springer´s co-worker, Eric Copperman of Cape Elizabeth, who is Jewish, said the Christian proselytizing smacks of anti-Semitism.
"The column is not calling for persecution but the language used is alarmingly similar to the justification for anti-Semitism since antiquity, and it´s extremely alarming," Coppperman said.
Copperman said he feels alienated and excluded by a pledge to the Christian flag that takes place at the annual union convention by the union´s auxiliary.
Early this month, the Maine Human Rights Commission sided with the postal carriers, ruling that the letter carriers had grounds to go forward with a lawsuit against their union.
In its response, the union contends the two are voluntary members and that it has not violated any constitutional protections because it´s not a government body establishing a state religion.
Pat Ryan, the human right´s commission´s executive director, said it´s not an option for the two to quit the union. "They are being excluded, I think, from the benefits of membership," she said.
If a solution cannot be mediated, the commission then will consider appointing a lawyer to bring the suit to court.