Office Depot Apologizes for Discriminating Against Christian
Office Depot issued an apology after refusing to print an anti-Planned Parenthood flier.
“We sincerely apologize to Ms. (Maria) Goldstein for her experience and our initial reaction was not at all related to her religious beliefs,” Office Depot CEO Roland Smith says, according to the Chicago Tribune. “We invite her to return to Office Depot if she still wishes to print the flier.”
Maria Goldstein was turned away from the office supply store on Aug. 20, when she requested a flier of Planned Parenthood statistics, including information about the sale of fetal body parts, and a prayer for the conversion of PP staffers, Charisma News previously reported.
“The intention of the prayer is to ask for conversion,” Goldstein tells the Tribune. “The conversion of the staff, employees, everybody who is part of this at Planned Parenthood. It means they will recognize life has dignity and that it is valuable and not a commodity to be bought and sold.”
Office Depot spokesperson Karen Denning told the Tribune Goldstein’s flier violated Office Depot’s printing policy.
The policy includes “the copying of any type of material that advocates any form of racial or religious discrimination or the persecution of certain groups of people. It also prohibits copying any type of copyrighted material.”
Goldstein’s attorney, Thomas Olp of the Thomas More Society, contended Goldstein was discriminated against because of her religious affiliation.
Olp says the discrimination is just one of many that are continually bombarding Christians in modern-day America.
Though the company has now apologized, “This situation is a reminder that religious liberty is increasingly under attack today,” Olp says. “But it is a fundamental American right that every one of us should value and defend.”
