When part of the Pledge of Allegiance is an unallowed expresssion
A former cashier for The Home Depot who has been wearing a "One nation under God" button on his work apron for more than a year has been fired, he says because of the religious reference. The company claims that expressing such personal beliefs is simply not allowed.
"I've worn it for well over a year and I support my country and God," Trevor Keezor said Tuesday. "I was just doing what I think every American should do, just love my country."
The American flag button Keezer wore in the Florida store since March 2008 says "One nation under God, indivisible." [Via Insight Scoop]
This is why I only go to Rome Depot.
Known as 
Hmmmm....
What would happen if every customer showed up at home depot with a "One nation under God" button?
Or....What would happen if every customer failed to show up at home depot? For say, A MONTH?
If "One nation under God" is a forbidden show of religion, I should be considerate of their position.
I have these little green slips of paper with "In God we trust".
Since overt displays of religion are so offensive and I do not wish to offend, I'll just keep these hateful, hurtful slips away from the poor people at Home Depot.
DS: Me too!
Last thing I want to do is offend HD.
Lowes has the same stuff, I think.
Also, I draw crosses above the dead presidents' heads on all the worthless green paper I handle.
As an ex-employee of Home Depot, I can't say I'm surprised. Wouldn't let us say "Merry Christmas" to the people buying Chr, oops, I mean, Holiday Trees.
I sent an e-mail to Home Depot explaining how the men in my family have decided not to offend Home Depot by giving them any U.S. money with the motto on it as suggested above. I asked for a response. Let's see if I get anything other than a standard cop-out letter.
Home Depot is notorious. I laughed right in the store when I saw the "holiday tree" display a couple winters ago. The boxes were clearly marked "Holiday Tree" in English, but the Spanish text "árbol de Navidad" means "Christmas tree". So evidentally it's okay to let the Hispanics have their religious customs because they're, you know, multiculturally-sensitive!
I have to admit that this is somewhat unfair to Home Depot, which does not disallow signs of faith worn by the employees (Cross, Miraculous Medal, Star of David, etc) but as part of the dress code agreed to by the employees prohibits message buttons (and even sports/designer/brand logos) tp be visible on aprons and shirts.
It is entirely possible that one employee, irritated by this guy's button, reported him, thus forcing the HD to recall the rule that should be followed by all employees. This guy was fired for refusing to comply with the dress code he had agreed to, not for his message.
joanne - interesting -- so if the button was on his shirt and not the apron, would that be part of the uniform ?
Joe,
If it had been on his shirt and not his apron, it would have been less noticeable and less likely to cause attention, but as with brand logos, if it's visible, it's not permitted by the dress code. On Fridays, a "dress down day" employees can where caps and shirts announcing their favorite sports teams, and I guess someone could make an issue of that, but the only messages/logos that can be worn on a visible portion of a shirt or on the apron are the buttons/pins that HD provides for its own promotional reasons, ie, those reminding customers to buy gift cards, those advertising the awards and certifications the employee has earned, etc. It's a business.
There are two things that bug me about this news item:
One is that it is unethical in that it falsely frames this issue as a religious issue. It is not--the employee and those who support his case are "bearing false witness", which, ironically, is quite an UNChristian thing to do.
The second is that business, and thus people, can suffer from the idiotic notion that a company should be boycotted for enforcing a dress code when a violation is brought to its attention.
It's interesting, therefore, that this story came to me first from a conservative Christian source. It's as if they are attacking "their own" for no good reason, unless they have heavily invested in Lowes... :)
As an aside, I happened to notice one day, while walking through an HD parking lot, that not one of the more than 100 cars I passed sported an Obama bumper sticker. Whereas, at my most recent visit to a local parish, 3 out of ten cars wore an Obama/Biden sticker... Just a sad observation. We definitely have some planks in our eyes.