The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that incoming Texas Comptroller Don Huffines immediately disavow reported plans to judge state employees based on their beliefs.
According to reports, Huffines recently told top staff that his priorities in the workplace would be “Jesus, family and work,” and indicated that employees would be judged on how Christian they are when he decides whether to retain them after taking office. FFRF warns that any religious test for public employment is blatantly unconstitutional.
“If these reports are accurate, they describe an astonishingly blatant violation of the Constitution,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Public employment is not conditioned on religious belief, and no government official has the authority to impose a Christian litmus test on state employees.”
FFRF Staff Attorney Madeline Ziegler has sent a letter to Huffines asking that he immediately rescind any such policy and make clear to employees that there are no religious requirements for serving in the Office of the Comptroller. If he is unwilling to do so, FFRF insists that he should decline the appointment.
The Constitution is unequivocal on this point. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office. At the same time, Article I, Section 4 of the Texas Constitution likewise bars any religious test as a qualification for public office. In Torcaso v. Watkins (1961), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that neither the federal government nor any state may constitutionally require a person to profess or reject a religious belief as a condition of public service.
The Supreme Court has also repeatedly affirmed that the First Amendment requires government neutrality between religion and nonreligion. Favoring Christians in hiring or retention decisions sends an unconstitutional message that non-Christians and nonreligious citizens are second-class participants in their own government.
“The Texas Comptroller’s Office serves every Texan, not just Christian Texans,” Ziegler adds. “Employees should be evaluated on their competence, integrity and job performance, not whether they subscribe to the religious beliefs favored by their boss.”
The comptroller’s office itself states that it “serves virtually every citizen in the state.” Yet roughly one-third of Texans are not Christians, including approximately 26 percent who identify as religiously unaffiliated. These Texans are equally entitled to compete for and hold public employment free from religious discrimination or coercion.
Beyond violating the Constitution, any effort to favor Christian employees or penalize non-Christian employees could expose the state to liability under federal and state employment discrimination laws.
FFRF is calling on Huffines to publicly clarify that no employee will be judged, retained or dismissed based on religion and that the office will comply fully with its constitutional obligation to remain neutral on matters of faith.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with about 41,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including 1,800 members and a chapter in Texas. FFRF’s purposes are to defend the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
