EMERSON: `GOD SQUAD' MUST BE STOPPED

The Clinton administration's "God Squad" must be barred from banning religious expression in the workplace, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson said Wednesday.

Emerson plans to join two other Republican colleagues in offering an appropriations-bill amendment today, which would prohibit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from using funds to enforce proposed religious harassment guidelines issued last fall.

The Senate last week unanimously approved a measure similar to the one now before the House.

"The EEOC has issued rules which could make it impossible for employees to have a Bible on their desk at work or invite a co-worker to a church picnic," the Cape Girardeau congressman said.

"These overzealous bureaucrats are out to undermine our constitutional right to freedom of religion. The EEOC's `God Squad' must be terminated, not workers who at the end of the week utter `Thank God, it's Friday,'" Emerson said from his Washington office.

Emerson was among more than 150 House members who sponsored a resolution opposing the federal agency's proposal. "This amendment is the next step in our fight to preserve our religious freedoms," he said.

"Just think about it, the House of Representatives opens its daily business with a prayer. If the EEOC's `God Squad' has its way, this harmless expression of spirituality to start the day could be stopped, and that's simply wrong."

Pete Jeffries, with Emerson's Washington office, said the House today could effectively kill the EEOC's proposed guidelines.

Jeffries said the response of Southeast Missourians is that the EEOC is "full of crazy ideas."

John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, called the EEOC proposal "ludicrous" and said "it would be fantastic" if the House puts a halt to the federal agency's actions.

Mehner said that he received "numerous positive comments" from area residents after he publicly criticized the EEOC's action earlier this month.

He said Wednesday that "it's so frustrating" to deal with the actions of the federal bureaucracy.

Bob Nations, president of the local chapter of the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International, was also critical of the EEOC's action.

"It is so totally out of character for that to happen in the United States," he said. "I think that it is really ridiculous."