Employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture believe Secretary Brooke Rollins is abusing her position by proselytizing to 100,000 employees through email. Now, a union has sued her over the practice and wants it stopped before Christmas.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in National Federation of Federal Employees v. USDA made the plea before a federal judge Oct. 27, emphasizing that workers cannot avoid the religious messages because they are required to read emails from agency leaders. In addition to seeking a preliminary injunction in the case, they also argued against the federal government’s motion for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
Rollins has made no secret of her employer-to-employee preaching and has promised to continue doing so despite the litigation and criticism. She went even further in September by telling Trinity Broadcasting Network she views her federal cabinet position as an instrument for saving souls: “I do use this platform. I believe in making disciples of all the nations. I believe that God has blessed this country and so ensuring that we are using this and bringing the light to a very dark world.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Democracy Forward and Bryan Schwartz Law represent six federal workers and the union that represents 110,000 federal employees, including thousands at the USDA, in the lawsuit.
Rachel Laser
“We urge the court to protect federal workers’ religious freedom and stop Secretary Rollins from abusing the power of her public office to impose her beliefs on others,” said Americans United President Rachel Laser. “Across the federal government, the Trump administration has misused taxpayer resources to preach, hold government-sponsored prayer services during work time, and broadcast Christian nationalism over official communications channels. Not on our watch.”
Americans United also sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in March for hosting prayer and worship services at the Pentagon. Those events are promoted in emails to Defense Department employees and have included sermons by Hegseth’s Christian nationalist pastor, Doug Wilson, and evangelist Franklin Graham.
Attorneys in the National Federation of Federal Employees case filed for the preliminary injunction in July after Rollins’ email sermonizing reached a “crescendo” around Easter proclaiming “the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind.” Rollins added, “Hell took a body and discovered God” and said, “Jesus has been raised from the dead.” She described her USDA subordinates as being “like the very first disciples to encounter our risen Lord … almost 2,000 years ago.”
“There’s no escape from her proselytizing.”
Plaintiff Ashley Miller said the emails are increasingly reflecting Rollins’ own version of Christianity and transforming secular holidays into religious events: “There’s no escape from her proselytizing. I’m required to read agency emails as part of my job. But now I worry any work email I open from the Office of the Secretary might contain more preaching, which makes me feel unwelcome at the agency I’ve served for nearly a decade.”
Miller’s comments capture the essence of the lawsuit filed against USDA and Rollins. “She has adopted a practice of sending increasingly proselytizing communications to the entire USDA workforce, promoting her own preferred brand of Christian beliefs and theology to the captive audience of employees that report to her, directly or indirectly,” the suit says.
Plaintiffs also argue the practice violates the constitutional ban on government endorsement of religion.
“Our nation’s Founders — having learned from the harmful effects of past religious conflicts — 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,” the suits states.
Rollins’ behavior is clearly an abuse of a public position, said Sarah Goetz, senior counsel at Democracy Forward. “This violates the Establishment Clause and threatens important pillars of our democracy. We will not allow Christian nationalism to pervert our democracy or our Constitution, and we remain committed to fighting on behalf of the nonpartisan civil service.”
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USDA employees go to court again to stop secretary’s proselytizing