Woman Accused of Being a Witch Fired From Military clinic

[doggie]

true religious persecution but not of Christians but by Christians.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rod ... 51154.html

Sir,

Got witches?

Are you and your staff quite out of your Constitutionally derelict minds?

It has been brought to the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), that an incredibly volatile, hostile and toxic evangelical Christian work environment under your direct command has resulted in the pernicious harassment, disenfranchisement, and firing of a once valued member of your team, Ms. Deborah Schoenfeld. We are writing you today in order to inform you that we will be immediately providing aggressive advocacy services for Ms. Schoenfeld as a MRFF client pursuant to her resolute quest to obtain a just resolution to her shocking complaints which have now been officially filed through the appropriate military Equal Employment Opportunity (EO) channels.

For the record, Ms. Schoenfeld practices the Hindu religion and has interest in Wiccan practices. A brief summary of her complaints follows:

• In her time at Epes Dental Clinic she was actually and specifically accused of "witchcraft" and "bringing demons into the office." She has been officially advised that she is not allowed to know who her accusers are.

• She has been openly disparaged for not having the same religious views as her superiors (evangelical Christian) and being "uninterested in taking part" in Christian rituals or the rampant and rapacious, workplace-based, evangelical Christian proselytizing which is outrageously and comprehensively supported by her former command.

• She has been admonished that practicing yoga is "satanic", and will "cost (her) her soul".

• She was advised by her chain of command to pray against the recent Supreme Court ruling against same sex marriage, as it is "an abomination to their religion". (an employee in the office wanted all the civilians to pray against the legalization of same sex marriage at a clinic meeting)

• She was chastised for playing Indian music in the workplace as it was "not Christian", while Christian music was commonly played throughout the entirety of this armed forces dental clinic.

• After filing an EO complaint, as anyone in her perilous situation of abject persecution should and would have done, she was swiftly fired from her job for false and scurrilous accusations from unknown persons asserting that she allegedly used profanity in the workplace.

• She was advised that she was accused of wrongdoing, and that she did not have the right to know her accuser(s).

• Her career has been unjustly and abruptly derailed and terminated by a literal "witch hunt" within your command.

We have spoken with witnesses at the clinic under your command who have universally confirmed that, not only did this horrid harassment take place, but ever since the execution of her punishment for failing the religious test imposed by the leadership of Epes Dental Clinic, a particular offending party has effusively celebrated her replacement by a Catholic woman by saying publicly that "It's good to see we got an angel, since last time we had the

devil." One witness has reported to MRFF that the clinic NCOIC responsible for Ms. Schoenfeld's firing has issued specific and detailed instructions, warnings and threats to remaining personnel to make no efforts in supporting Ms. Schoenfeld's return to duty lest they face similar consequences of employment termination and related personal disparagement.

[browncoatslytherin]

fuck, this shit makes me mad. fuck her superiors, i hope they get their asses handed to them.

[ViolaSebastian]

How on earth did they determine she was a witch? Put her on a cucking stool? Threw her in a river and see if she floated?

Maybe I shouldn't give these jerks any ideas... :?

She was chastised for playing Indian music in the workplace as it was "not Christian", while Christian music was commonly played throughout the entirety of this armed forces dental clinic.

This one pissed me off good. There's 24 million Indian's that identify as Christians. How on earth would these yokels know if they were singing about Christ or not?

[browncoatslytherin]

How on earth did they determine she was a witch? Put her on a cucking stool? Threw her in a river and see if she floated?

they simply weighed her to see if she weighed the same as a duck, of course :roll:

[PennySycamore]

Good grief! The Air Force needs to stop drinking the evangelical kool-aid. At once.

Good for Mikey Weinstein and the MRFF. May they prevail in their case!

I had a dear friend in the Navy Dental Corps some years ago and this kind of harassment would never have flown in his clinic.

[doggie]

maybe they held her down and gave her laughing gas and made her confess.

reminds me of the Christians that freak out over yoga. Really Christian privilege and elitism and fear can be over the top in Americans.

[DaisyD]

This reminds me of the first place I worked after the military. There was a bible thumper there that did not appreciate my "keep your faith at home" attitude. She was constantly bitching about me to the admin. I don't remember swearing as much as she said I did, but I swear like a sailor at home, so I couldn't dispute it. All of which ended with me getting "laid off" on Halloween while wearing... wait for it... a witch costume. :lol: It was all for the better in the end though. After that I got a seamstress job that I could do at home and stay with the kids. She did me a favor. :wink-kitty:

[Jana814]

This story is just plan nuts!!

[Four is Enough]

I hope they get fried.

[VelociRapture]

they simply weighed her to see if she weighed the same as a duck, of course :roll:

They better be on their goddamn knees praying she isn't a real witch. . .

. . . No one wants to be turned into Newt Gingrich. Not even Newt Gingrich. :lol:

Seriously though, this is fucking bullshit. I honestly can't understand the way some people take any religious teachings and twist them into such extremes.

[PokaDot]

Similar stuff happened to me when I worked at Ft. Meade as well, however, not the same extent.

I was asked where I went to church and if I was religious, and was treated worse when I said I didn't go to church. The Navy girl on my team even kicked my lunch down the cube hall once.

When I reported these incidents (suffered through a toxic workplace for 6 months before I quit), nothing happened. I reported them to my Chain of Command, and they ignored them.

The entire team is still working there-and has been given awards, and told everyone I was removed for cause.

I wonder if it's too late for me to file an official complaint. This is still fairly recent.

[DaisyD]

I would look into it. That is hugely against regs. No command I was in in the Navy would have put up with that shit. If the CO won't do anything, you go to their CO.

[Meg0]

Similar stuff happened to me when I worked at Ft. Meade as well, however, not the same extent.

I was asked where I went to church and if I was religious, and was treated worse when I said I didn't go to church. The Navy girl on my team even kicked my lunch down the cube hall once.

When I reported these incidents (suffered through a toxic workplace for 6 months before I quit), nothing happened. I reported them to my Chain of Command, and they ignored them.

The entire team is still working there-and has been given awards, and told everyone I was removed for cause.

I wonder if it's too late for me to file an official complaint. This is still fairly recent.

You should look into it. I work on Meade too and last week for the first time in my life god and jesus were brought up in a work meeting. It was weird and then i came on and saw this and now your post. I am sorry that happened to you.

[PregnantPornStar]

I don't know enough about the story to make comments, but it is fair to say that military communities often bread some nutty religious ideas. I know people who truly think that you have to be a Christian to be in the U.S. military. When we mention we are not Christian people are often flabbergasted.

Whenever I move I meet people and am very often invited to "PWOC". Some bases are worse than others. I have opinions about what can factor into making communities more evangelical and pushy. Anyway, it is actually pretty scary.

[desertvixen]

PokaDot, I would definitely look into filing a complaint.

Agree that sometimes it gets a little ugly. We just moved to Fort Knox and the head chaplain's speech at our newcomers' brief was like a Baptist sermon (the officer in question was a Baptist preacher) and I was surprised to see that there's a charismatic service on post.

The unit I'm in seems okay, but I've been in ones that were on overload. In my experience, it's worse in the South in that respect - when we were stationed in Georgia, there was a very heavy evangelical/Jesus everywhere emphasis, while in San Antonio and Arizona not so much. Colorado Springs also had a bit of an issue with it, mostly from our boss, but that's because USAFA and Focus on the Family are there...

[DaisyD]

I don't know enough about the story to make comments, but it is fair to say that military communities often bread some nutty religious ideas. I know people who truly think that you have to be a Christian to be in the U.S. military. When we mention we are not Christian people are often flabbergasted.

Whenever I move I meet people and am very often invited to "PWOC". Some bases are worse than others. I have opinions about what can factor into making communities more evangelical and pushy. Anyway, it is actually pretty scary.

Do they not remember selecting from a list which religion they wanted listed on their dog tags? I remember that part of the paperwork so specifically. I don't know about other branches, but there were quite a few female Muslim sailors who wanted permission to wear a hijab while off base in Arab countries instead of the ball cap, polo shirt, and khakis that was required of female military personnel, since they knew how to do it properly and wouldn't be offending since that is their faith. Did others not hear about this?

[PregnantPornStar]

Do they not remember selecting from a list which religion they wanted listed on their dog tags? I remember that part of the paperwork so specifically. I don't know about other branches, but there were quite a few female Muslim sailors who wanted permission to wear a hijab while off base in Arab countries instead of the ball cap, polo shirt, and khakis that was required of female military personnel, since they knew how to do it properly and wouldn't be offending since that is their faith. Did others not hear about this?

I honestly think it had a lot to do with where said people are from and most members of the military are from the same region...

[roddma]

I hoped it would be a parody. Anyhow, man Chrisitans are clueless about the Pagan origins of Christmas.