An unnamed Department of Veterans Affairs supervisor was reportedly forced to remove a “not today, Satan, not today” sign from her desk because of a complaint.
The complaint was filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) on behalf of an honorably discharged, non-theist Air Force veteran who works under the supervisor.
According to a now-public email sent from the employee to the MRFF, the employee took offense when, during a meeting with the supervisor, they noticed the “not today, Satan, not today” sign.
Veterans Affairs supervisor is ordered to remove ‘not today Satan’ display from her desk after civil rights complaint that described it as a ‘grotesque Christian supremacist sign’ https://t.co/icZOHJFYDJ pic.twitter.com/3c1k9HBp9e
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) January 24, 2024
“In what was already a hostile situation with my immediate supervisor for previous non-religious reasons, my situation became even worse when she invited me to her office for a discussion,” the email reads.
“This is where I first noticed she had a ‘Not Today, Satan. Not Today.’ sign sitting on top of her desk for everyone to see. The sign itself was positioned in such a way that it was physically directed at anyone sitting in the guest chair across from her desk,” the email continues.
“As an honorably discharged veteran who subscribes to many non-theist teachings (including Satanist), my previous hostile situation with my immediate supervisor was escalated to the max. Especially after learning from other co-workers that she has actually has had this sign up in her office for at least the past year with not a single care from upper management,” the email concludes.
The employee then sent a “passionate and deeply emotional” email to the supervisor complaining about the sign. This prompted upper management to email the employee requesting a meeting that the employee perceived as a threat.
The employee then reached out to MRFF, got in touch with attorney Michael Weinstein, and told him about the “grotesque Christian supremacist sign” that he wanted taken down.
After reaching out to the MRFF, the employee then informed upper management that they were in touch with Weinstein and that Weinstein would be attending the meeting.
“After accepting the meeting invite from upper management, Mikey personally accompanied me with my Union via telephone during its duration,” the email reads.
“After Mikey’s powerful introduction and statements, it was with great joy and excitement that we learned her ‘Not Today, Satan. Not Today.’ sign was immediately removed with absolutely no resistance whatsoever from my hostile Christian supervisor,” the email continues.
“The VBA upper management is also now considering bringing in more cultural sensitivity awareness training, moving me to a new supervisor, and sending an apology email to my entire team at the VBA,” the email concludes.
Christian-owned company told they must remove Bible verses from Army products, including dog tags https://t.co/UwEeUyAiQQ
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) December 18, 2021
Speaking with The Christian Post afterward, Weinstein said that the sign was removed even before the meeting he attended.
He also described the sign as “a noxious example of trying to express a particular religious view in a situation where it simply was not warranted.”
When asked for a rebuttal to the argument that Satanism should not be treated like other faiths, Weinstein disagreed, arguing that Satanism’s critics “probably don’t really understand the full nature of Satanism.”
“It’s not sacrificing children at midnight with knives,” he alleged. “Remember, in our perspective, we don’t look at it as to what is good and bad. We look at what is legal and what’s not legal.”
“There are thousands of different gods. Our republic is meant to be a secular democratic republic; that’s how we do it in this country. We don’t look at whether Satan is bad, or Jesus is bad, or Vishnu is bad, or Buddha or Yahweh. We look at the time, place, and manner of an expression of a faith or non-faith tradition,” he continued.
“We live in a very polarized country. Let’s not overcomplicate that, either. We seem to be in a digital country: MAGA or non-MAGA. We know which side Christian nationalism is focused on. And in this instance, the immediate offending supervisor took it off his or her desk after being notified, after complaints came in, from the higher ranking supervisor,” he continued.
“I ask people all the time [to] remember, we’re not a Christian nation, we’re not a Jewish nation, we’re not an Islamic nation. We’re a secular democratic republic. And that’s why we have a separation of church and state. It’s all time, place, and manner,” he concluded.
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