The Germantown Police Department removed religious scripture from a social media post promoting a job listing after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FRFF) sent a letter to the police chief warning that signaling religious preference in hiring for a government job was unconstitutional.
A concerned resident of Germantown brought the organization's attention to the social media post on Sept. 13. The ACLU and FFRF sent the letter on Sept. 26.
“When a government agency suggests a preference for a particular religion, it poses serious constitutional concerns,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Staff Attorney Hayley Archer.
“As the Supreme Court has put it, the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause ‘mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion,’” Archer said. “‘We are happy that the department took the concerns raised in our letter seriously and made the correct decision to remove the bible text.”
“The separation of church and state is a bedrock principle of our Constitution and identity as a nation,” added FFRF Patrick O’Reilly Legal Fellow Hirsh Joshi. “Favoring religious viewpoints sends an improper and exclusionary message in the hiring process and alienates individuals who do not share those religious beliefs. We hope this serves as a reminder to all government institutions to refrain from promoting religion in any official capacity.”
Both state and federal law and the Constitution prohibit religious preferences in hiring for government jobs.
