"The Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C., serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor. Its dedicated employees implement and enforce labor laws passed by Congress. It's not a church, or a synagogue, and its mission is not to serve or praise any religious deity. But if you stopped in at the Cesar Chavez auditorium on Dec. 10, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise."
"On that day, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer hosted the Labor Department's Inaugural Prayer Service, to which all employees had been invited via an email from the department's recently created Center for Faith. Though it was billed as nondenominational, it nonetheless featured only Judeo-Christian speakers, including Secretary Chavez-DeRemer, in addition to one Orthodox rabbi. No Muslim imam, no believer in Buddhism, no representative of the religiously unaffiliated."
"At the first such service, held in May, Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Hegseth's Tennessee church Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, delivered the sermon. Potteiger's message was unambiguous: Lord, may this become a place where Christians come together to do just this, and we see you move in power, not just through the Pentagon, but through our nation's capital and down throughout this great nation."
The Labor Department held an Inaugural Prayer Service in the Frances Perkins Building, organized by a newly created Center for Faith and open to all employees by email invitation. The event was billed as nondenominational yet featured only Judeo-Christian speakers, including the Secretary and an Orthodox rabbi, with no Muslim, Buddhist, or nonreligious representation. The Secretary modeled the gathering after monthly Christian prayer services at the Department of Defense led by its secretary and clergy who called for Christian influence across the capital. Longtime departmental practice avoided using the building for worship, prompting constitutional concerns over government endorsement of religion.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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