Puerto Rican Police Sued By Atheist Officer Over Workplace Prayer

The ACLU of Puerto Rico announced Friday that it has filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of a police officer who is an atheist who was harassed and demoted to handling menial tasks after he refused to participate in Christian prayer made a part of a workplace meeting by a police commander. Departmental meetings continue to include Christian prayers. The complaint (full text) in Marrero-Mendez v.Pesquera, (D PR, filed 3/8/2013), charges that the practice violates the Establishment Clause as well as various Puerto Rican statutory and constitutional provisions. According to an AP report: "It is one of the first cases of its kind filed in the deeply religious U.S. territory, where 85 percent of the people consider themselves Roman Catholic and a large minority is Protestant."