Amanda Donaldson is no longer an employee of Dr. Scott Dawson at El Dorado Chiropractic in McKinney, Texas. She claims that she was fired because Dawson found out that she is an atheist. To add insult to injury, the firing came shortly after she returned to work from cancer surgery. Although it’s hard to prove exactly why someone was fired – the employer can always lie – based on Dawson’s comments it seems clear that his religious bigotry was the reason for the firing.
Religious discrimination in the workplace is wrong and illegal, whether it is due to the employee having a different religion or no religion at all. Unfortunately, as I have often reported on, many fervently religious people don’t understand that these rights extend to atheists also, and see nothing wrong with discriminating against them in the workplace or elsewhere.
The Good Atheist has more details and commentary on this story. Austin Cline at About.com does also, and quotes an interview with Ms. Donaldson from the Dallas Atheism Examiner.
Big Guy
on Jun 24th, 2009
@ 10:14 am:
Why does everybody automatically assume that Dr. Dawson is the one that is lying, doesn’t it seem reasonalbe that maybe Amanda is attacking him because of what he believes? And maybe just maybe, she was fired because she was incompetent?
If someone is fired because they can’t do the job, it does not matter what their belief is.
SDR
on Jun 24th, 2009
@ 11:26 am:
Big Guy,
You’re right to an extent; no one should be automatically assuming Amanda is telling the truth, which is exactly why I didn’t. In stories like this I always make it clear that this is what the person is claiming, not necessarily the truth or the entire story. I, at least, am not automatically assuming anything. I am simply reporting what is being claimed. Should I never report on claims of discrimination against atheists simply because the person may not be telling the truth? If it turns out Amanda is the one lying, I will be the first to post an update and to make it clear that it is disgusting to lie about such a thing, as it only hurts those who have legitimate discrimination complaints.
But….
In this situation Dr. Dawson basically admitted that Amanda and her husband’s atheism is the reason she was fired. If you look at any of the links provided you will see that he admitted such to the media when he was first contacted. It was only later that he changed his tune and started claiming that it had anything to do with work performance.
And who is this “everybody” who are assuming she is telling the truth? I certainly didn’t, using language such as “She claims.” It seems that you are arguing against a nonexistent straw man, at least on this site, due to your own apparent bias toward believing the religious party. I have my own bias too, of course, but I self-consciously try very hard to recognize this and avoid letting it affect my analysis, especially in stories such as this. I make sure, unless the evidence is absolutely indisputable, to make it clear that this is a claim that is being made and there are three sides to every story: one person’s story, the other person’s story, and the truth.