Now Eschliman has teamed with the Liberty Institute and filed an EEOC complaint against his former employer, arguing that he is the victim of religious discrimination:
"No one should be fired for simply expressing his religious beliefs," said Matthew Whitaker, a former United States Attorney, partner of a Des Moines law firm, and a volunteer Liberty Institute attorney. "In America, it is against the law to fire an employee for expressing a religious belief in public. This kind of religious intolerance by an employer has no place in today's welcoming workforce."I remember this case when it originally erupted. Frankly, I'm surprised today that I didn't write about it back then. This is one of those cases that just makes me cringe. Of all the things to fire a man over, this was not one of them. I mean, the guy complains about the power of the all-powerful "Gaystapo" and then his message gets reinforced by him getting fired. Over a stupid blog criticizing a two-year-old book.
That said, hopefully Eschliman has spent at least a portion of the past three months pondering the expression of his religious beliefs. Maybe his outdated criticism of the Queen James Bible wouldn't have gotten him fired if he hadn't spouted off about homos and the Gaystapo. I mean, there is some merit to communicating an idea without having to depend on inflammatory terminology.
I am interested to see how this all plays out.