Secretary sued in U.S. over Easter greeting
A group of federal employees accused Brooke Rollins of “unconstitutional coercion” toward Christianity through official workplace emailing.
In the United States, a lawsuit has been filed against Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins over her regular use of Christian imagery and quotations in emails to subordinates, Religion News Service reports.
The suit goes on to describe “an escalating pattern of subjecting all USDA employees to proselytizing Christian messaging promulgated from (Rollins’) position of authority.”
The plaintiffs, including union representatives and employees of various beliefs, described Easter and Christmas greetings as an attempt to turn a government agency into a church. In their view, Rollins’ actions violate the principle of separation of church and state and create a “preferred religious ‘in-group’ at USDA.”
The case, filed in a California court, was prompted by an Easter email sent on April 5, 2026. In the message, Brooke Rollins called the Resurrection of Christ “the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all humanity.”
The message was accompanied by an image of the empty tomb with the stone rolled away and the inscription “Christ is Risen.” “Jesus has been raised from the dead. And God has granted each of us victory and new life,” the plaintiffs quoted the secretary as saying in their complaint.
Aggressive secularists from Americans United for Separation of Church and State complained that Rollins was waging a “brazen crusade” against freedom of conscience.
“The Trump administration is waging a relentless and increasingly brazen crusade against church-state separation and the religious freedom of federal workers,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, in a statement. “Trump is not Jesus, federal agencies are not churches, and cabinet secretaries are not government preachers.”
The suing parties also state that they feel compelled to read Rollins’ email messages because they often include nonreligious information that may affect their job duties.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture declined to comment on the details of the ongoing litigation. However, the department made clear that it does not intend to abandon Christian principles even under court pressure. “While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers during this process,” the department’s press office said.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that a U.S. Senate candidate called for Hagia Sophia to be returned to the Orthodox Church.
