(thanks to David Flanders for this one….)
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) represents Edwin Graning, a former driver for the Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS), which is a nine-county transit service that often provides transportation in rural areas surrounding Austin, Texas. Senior attorney Edward White tells OneNewsNow the driver was dispatched in January to transport two women to a Planned Parenthood clinic…. “He called up his supervisor and said, ‘You know, I’m an ordained minister…and Planned Parenthood does abortions. And I don’t know if this lady’s going there for an abortion. However, if she is, I want nothing to do with that,’” White accounts. “And so in effect, he was asking for his supervisor to just get one of the other CARTS drivers to pick up this woman.”
I don’t begrudge Edwin Graning his religious beliefs. He can believe in the benevolence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster if that’s what give his life meaning. He can worship trees or dog excrement or baseball cards. The fact that he’s a Christian really is only relevant insofar as it fuels what he feels is his God-given right to discriminate against other because they happen not to measure up to his moral and religious standards. That this attitude is so noticeable among Christians only servers to demonstrate my point.
Graning was a bus driver; his job was to pick customers up at Point A and deliver them to Point B. What they do once the get to Point B is, frankly, none of his g——-n business. If Point B was a Burger King, and Graning was a vegan, would he feel justified in refusing to pick up his customer because he (or she) might order a hamburger or two? Again, Graning is a bus driver- NOT a moral compass with the authority to refuse service to those who somehow fall short of his high, self-righteous standards.
What makes Graning’s refusal to do his job even more egregious is that he admits he has no idea what his passenger was planning on doing once she arrived at the Planned Parenthood clinic. Apparently, the idea that she might be getting an abortion was just more than his delicate, uber-Jesus-y sensibilities could tolerate. Never mind the fact that abortions represent only a very small subset of a range of pregnancy-related services offered by Planned Parenthood. Was Graning planning to henceforth administer moral litmus tests to all of his riders in order to determine the righteousness of their planned journeys? And how is it that Graning felt justified in deputizing himself as moral arbiter of the worthiness and appropriateness of his passenger’s intended trip to Planned Parenthood?
As if Graning’s judgmental intolerance wasn’t enough, now he’s decided to file a lawsuit claiming he was fired due to his religious beliefs…proving that chutzpah and irony are not dead.
The lawsuit claims Graning’s former employer violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Graning is represented by attorneys from the American Center for Law & Justice, which was founded by evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson.
Never mind the ironic reality that Graning discriminated against his passenger due to his religious beliefs. Cue the countersuit in 4…3…2….
Yes, Christians really ARE an oppressed majority…and winged pigs are violating Saudi Arabian air space as we speak….
From all indications, Graning was not fired due to his views on abortion, as he claims in his lawsuit. I doubt his employers gave a damn about his religious beliefs or his views on abortion. I suspect their concerns had more to do with Graning driving his bus on schedule and without killing anyone in the process. The responsibility of his employer is to get people to their destination. When an employee refuses to meet this responsibility, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable for that employer to terminate that employee for failure to perform. Bus drivers don’t get to pass judgment on the destination or intentions of their passengers. Period. End of story. No questions permitted. Capice??
For Graning to claim discrimination is the height of arrogance and evidence of a poorly-developed sense of comic timing. As an ordained minister, you’d think he’d have a better understanding of the teachings of Jesus Christ. After all, he’s been fully and thoroughly edumicated and indoctrinated. Sadly, Graning represents just about everything wrong with modern Christianity- arrogance, intolerance, an overheated sense of religiosity, a willingness to pass judgement, and an overdeveloped persecution complex.
Somewhere warm and breezy, Jesus weeps in his Corona….
Go to Hell. Go directly to Hell. Do not pass “GO”. Do not collect $200. Go directly to Hell. NOW. Your table is waiting.
