I heard about a recent complaint by actress Patricia Mauceri regarding her employer’s alleged expectation of her, to perform a script that goes against her personal religious views (as well as Patricia’s concept of the character she created based on her own personal religious views) on the soap opera One Life To Live.
Patricia has played the character of Carlotta Vega on that show for over a decade. I remember early on her appearances on that show, that she played a housekeeper, of sorts, for one of the main characters, Dorian Lord. She played a strong role in voicing what should have been Dorian’s conscious when that character got herself into questionable situations by manipulating others. Eventually, Patricia’s character Carlotta bought a restaurant and continued the role of adviser to many of the shows characters as they experienced problems in their “lives”. Always her religious wisdoms and values showed through.
I have quit watching soap operas and many other shows because of my personal beliefs. I get tired of being “forced”, simply because there doesn’t appear to be many other choices, to watch entertainment shows that continue to erode and chip away at traditional family values or Christian values. Our family recently gave up television because of many of these issues when the digital conversion took place.
The problem that Patricia is now voicing is that she was allegedly given a script or a direction in which she, as her character, was expected to be supportive of a gay storyline which Patricia says is not authentic to who Patricia is as a Christian; nor would the Christian character Carlotta realistically support a situation like that. Patricia has said it is not the gay storyline that she objects to; but rather, the way that her character’s storyline was written. Christian’s, for the most part, do not condone same sex relationships, as it goes against scripture in the Bible. The Bible calls homosexuality, or the physical expression of romantic love between two people of the same sex, an abomination.
Is it right, fair, or legal for an employer to demand an employee to go against their personal religious beliefs in a job environment? And, if it IS legal, who should a person obey…their employer or God?
After hearing that Patricia is alleging that she has been let go of her character and replaced with another actress I started wondering about making a stand in a person’s workplace, when expected in the workplace to violate one’s personal beliefs. I don’t know about the legality of such issues…but, I do know that it would be especially difficult or impossible to make myself do or perform any work related job when I felt that it went against my beliefs as a Christian. In my heart, and here on the blog, I support Patricia and her efforts to put her convictions out there as a testimony to her faith.
I wonder, have any of my readers had an experience at work where they felt conflicted about something the boss expected them to do in their work environment, based on their religious beliefs? How did you handle that situation?
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