{"id":355598,"date":"2026-05-13T14:27:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/lawsuit-accuses-secretary-of-agriculture-of-proselytizing-employees-in-emails"},"modified":"2026-05-13T14:27:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:27:53","slug":"lawsuit-accuses-secretary-of-agriculture-of-proselytizing-employees-in-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/lawsuit-accuses-secretary-of-agriculture-of-proselytizing-employees-in-emails","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit accuses secretary of agriculture of proselytizing workers in emails"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">A new federal lawsuit accuses Secretary of Agriculture <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Politics\/live-updates\/trump-transition-live-updates-house-ethics-committee-meet?id=115967345&amp;entryId=116169174\" dir=\"ltr\">Brooke Rollins<\/a> of proselytizing federal employees by frequently invoking Jesus Christ in work emails.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The National Federation of Federal Employees and a group of seven <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Business\/egg-prices-predicted-rise-411-2025-usda\/story?id=119182317\" dir=\"ltr\">USDA<\/a> employees filed the lawsuit in California, accusing Rollins of violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Secretary Rollins&#8217;s practice and policy of subjecting agency employees to proselytizing messages conveys the expectation that USDA employees share in the Secretary&#8217;s religious beliefs, even when doing so would betray an employee&#8217;s own beliefs,&#8221; the lawsuit said.<!-- -->\u00a0<!-- -->&#8220;It is exactly the sort of government-sponsored religious coercion, religious sermonizing, and denominational preference that the Establishment Clause prohibits.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The complaint listed a series of emails sent by Rollins to commemorate recent holidays, including crediting &#8220;gratitude towards a loving God&#8221; in her Thanksgiving email, writing that &#8220;God gave us the greatest gift possible&#8221; in her Christmas email, and describing the story of Jesus&#8217; resurrection as the &#8220;greatest story ever told&#8221; in her Easter email.<!-- -->\u00a0<!-- -->Rollins<!-- -->\u00a0<!-- -->only acknowledged Christian holidays, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Our nation&#8217;s Founders &#8212; having learned from the harmful effects of past religious conflicts &#8212; adopted the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to safeguard against government promoting any favored religion or imposing its preferred religious practice on its citizens to protect religious freedom for all,&#8221; the lawsuit said.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">While religious expression is protected under law and federal employees are permitted to engage in private religious speech, the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from establishing an official state religion, favoring one religion over another, or favoring religion over non-religion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The federal employees who brought the lawsuit alleged that Rollin&#8217;s speech &#8220;indoctrinates USDA employees and has caused them to feel coerced, unwelcome, excluded, and like outsiders to the agency.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"oLzSq QrHMO fnRUo pvsTF EhJPu vPlOC zNYgW OsTsW RMeqy daRVX ISNQ sKyCY eRftA acPPc MENS nFwaT MCnQE mEeeY SmBjI xegrY rPLsU iulOd NIuqO zzscu lzDCc aHUBM IEgzD OjMNy eQqcx SVqKB GQmdz jaoD VWDdR ONJdw vrZxD OnRTz gbbfF roDbV GPGwb oMlSS gfNzt oJhud eXZcf zhVlX \">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage GpQCA lZur asrEW \" data-testid=\"prism-inline-image\">\n<figure class=\"kzIjN GNmeK pYrtp dSqFO \" data-testid=\"prism-figure\">\n<div class=\"GpQCA lZur \" style=\"padding-bottom:68.9090909090909%\" data-testid=\"prism-ratio-frame\">\n<div class=\"FvQLF iLTd NqeUA UzzHi iWsMV \"><picture data-testid=\"prism-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 414px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/affa4037-477a-4682-8583-173e95ce84ba\/brooke-rollins-gty-gmh-260513_1778690265541_hpMain.jpg?w=375, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/affa4037-477a-4682-8583-173e95ce84ba\/brooke-rollins-gty-gmh-260513_1778690265541_hpMain.jpg?w=750 2x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 415px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/affa4037-477a-4682-8583-173e95ce84ba\/brooke-rollins-gty-gmh-260513_1778690265541_hpMain.jpg?w=750, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/affa4037-477a-4682-8583-173e95ce84ba\/brooke-rollins-gty-gmh-260513_1778690265541_hpMain.jpg?w=1500 2x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Division of Justice\" alt=\"Division of Justice\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/affa4037-477a-4682-8583-173e95ce84ba\/brooke-rollins-gty-gmh-260513_1778690265541_hpMain.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"nMMea bNYiy Mjgpa dGwha DDmxa jgKNG RGHCC aBIU PriDW aiQHS lZur \" data-testid=\"prism-caption\">\n<p><span class=\"hsDdd OOSI GpQCA lZur VlFaz \" data-testid=\"prism-truncate\"><span><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks at a press conference at the Department of Justice, May 4, 2026 in Washington.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ YNujN JGtjI aZFDu rkKLh \">Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">One employee claimed in the suit that she was told it would &#8220;create trouble&#8221; for her if she asked to be removed from the email distribution list, and others said they feared retaliation if they complained about the messages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Another employee said he &#8220;feels that the Secretary is conveying to him that he is unwelcome and &#8216;going to hell&#8217; because he does not share the Secretary&#8217;s beliefs.&#8221;<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In response to the lawsuit, a USDA spokesperson said in a statement, &#8220;While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers during this process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/lawsuit-accuses-secretary-agriculture-proselytizing-employees-emails\/story?id=132926896\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new federal lawsuit accuses Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins of proselytizing federal employees by frequently invoking Jesus Christ in work emails.\u00a0 The National Federation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":355601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5303,2879,1913,1501,31558,31557,31556,1679,1438,4464,636],"class_list":["post-355598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-division-of-justice","tag-easter","tag-federal-government","tag-kevin","tag-nationwide-federation-of-federal","tag-rollin","tag-secretary-of-agriculture","tag-spokesperson","tag-thanksgiving","tag-usda","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355600,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355598\/revisions\/355600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}