I feel there's a principle of religious liberty involved and it's something that
my forefathers and this country have fought and died for. Our government was
formed to be freedom's greatest protector not its greatest threat.
Within a few hours, I'm being threatened with the closure of my business. But for the
Vander Boon family in Michigan, government bureaucrats are going after
both their freedom and their ability to make a living
simply for offering a point of view on marriage that differs from the
government's. I believe marriage is between one man and one woman
and I get those beliefs from the Bible. Just after the Supreme Court decision on
same-sex marriage, Don Vander Boon walked through the breakroom at
his family's beef company. He saw newspapers with headlines and opinions
full of support for same-sex unions but none for God's plan for a marriage.
After reading an article that offered a different viewpoint, one supporting
marriage as the union of one man and one woman,
Don decided to print off a copy and add it to the other materials on the break
room table. It was simply discussing what God's
design was for marriage. It was discussing what practical
implications there were to allowing same-sex marriage.
Don's faith informed not only his beliefs about marriage but also how he
ran his business and treated his employees. From the very beginning, we
started the business really in faith and made it clear to employees as we hired
them that we run our business according to Christian principles. But Don never
anticipated that his article would threaten his livelihood. And they called
me into my own office. They shut both my doors. And took this
article that I had printed and put it on the table in my office and proceeded to
ask me if I was going to leave that article on the break room table. Because
if I was, they were going to immediately remove the USDA inspectors from this
facility. And with the inspectors, so goes the much-needed USDA stamp of approval.
And so, if the USDA removes the stamp and inspectors, then I'm immediately unable
to operate. How could the government official assigned to keep an eye on the
meat production process threatened to close a business because the owner put
an article in the break room? So the USDA's mission is to ensure a safe food
supply for the consumers in the United States and their mission is not to be
monitoring my break room tables to see whether I have violated some speech
codes that they've developed. Surely there had to be a mistake.
Americans don't need to leave their faith at the door when they go to work,
do they? Well, Don found out the USDA has a regulation that says they do. The USDA
policy says that federal bureaucrats can determine what speech is disrespectful
and insulting and restrict that speech and the First Amendment does not allow
them to do that. That's right. According to the USDA, stating a belief about
marriage that has held true throughout the course of human history
became unlawful harassment just days after the same-sex marriage decision.
And I was told I need to leave my faith, my religious convictions, at the door when I
come to a public business like this. For more than a year now, Don has received
nothing from the USDA but the runaround. I always feel like now
I have Big Brother watching over me and it just makes me hesitant and it's
I'm always feeling like I... it's not... has never been resolved and so I'm still under
this threat. He's had to surrender his First Amendment freedoms in order to
keep his doors open. A price no American should ever have to pay. It's made me
realize how quickly we can lose our religious liberty. I never dreamed that I
would have this experience and that I would have USDA personnel telling me
that I had to choose between putting an article on my break room table or my
business. This is my wonderful wife Ellen, my wife of 25 years. And that's when Don
and his family turned to Alliance Defending Freedom. We sent a letter to
President Trump asking him to rectify the situation
and assign a robust religious freedom executive order because that order would
protect people like Don Vander Boon in exactly these kinds of situations.
Many Americans have asked the president to quickly sign the order and follow
through on his campaign promise to make religious freedom a first priority.