A Supreme Court case involving a former U.S. Postal Service carrier who refused to deliver Amazon packages on Sundays is an "important case dealing with religious freedom," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
"The post office may have traded Sundays for a few pieces of Amazon silver, but many Americans have not," Perkins said Wednesday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "They remain very committed to their religious faith, and there's a desire simply to be accommodated and that's what this case is all about."
The case heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday involves Gerald Groff, who quit his job as a postal carrier after an Amazon contract with the Postal Service required carriers to deliver packages on Sundays.
After Groff told his employers that, as a Christian, he could not work on Sundays, he filed suits in the lower courts. They sided with the USPS, which said Groff's demands to have Sundays off meant there would be extra work for other employees and that it would cause tensions.
Groff said a win in the Supreme Court could protect other employees' requests for Sundays off, and that other people "shouldn't have to choose between their job and their faith."
"You've got to consider that he took a job with the post office when the post office worked six days a week," Perkins told Newsmax. "They changed the terms of employment and started working on Sundays."
Perkins acknowledged that Groff worked in a small post office and that it would have been a burden on others to accommodate his wishes, but still, for decades, there has been no mail deliveries on Sundays.
"It's been recognized that Sunday, being a Sabbath, is a day of rest, accommodated by many Americans," said Perkins. "Again, because the post office has changed its mind to try to make money because they're losing money and taking on Amazon's business, there's no reason to burden the fundamental freedom that Americans have to worship as they choose. For many Americans, that is Sunday."
The USPS move comes at a time when there is "increasing hostility in our culture toward orthodox religious faith and we need to draw a line," Perkins said.
The court will likely rule later this spring, and a win for Groff could be "very significant" for religious freedom, said Perkins.
"It depends on the path the court takes," he said. "The court sometimes takes very narrow paths and only deals with the specifics with the particular case before them, or it could be a wide-ranging decision about the accommodation in the workplace."
Perkins said he's hoping for the wider-range decision, and that the court defends "this fundamental freedom."
"The post office can't cancel religious freedom as they cancel a stamp and say you can't use it," said Perkins. "We have the right as Americans to exercise this freedom. It is a big case we need to be praying that it is successful for religious freedom."
Perkins said he thinks the ruling from the conservative-majority court will be on the side of religious freedom, but that it will be a more narrow decision.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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