The notice posted on the restaurant door as we went in to order pizza read: “Help wanted. Must have open schedule.” Translation: You work when we say.

“But sir, I must worship God on the Sabbath, I can’t come in until after sundown.”

“You can worship God any day you like, but if you want a job working here, you’ll work when I say so!”

Variations of this imagined conversation are all too real. Every year, hundreds of Seventh-day Adventists throughout the five states of the Pacific Union, and thousands of Adventists nationwide encounter just this sort of resistance from employers. Frequently, the request for religious accommodation in order to observe the Sabbath is met with hostility and retaliation.

Art Brown faced such hostility when he asked Fed Ex for Sabbath accommodation. He was told to say good-bye to his church for a couple of years, because he would have to work on Saturdays. Supervisors sabotaged his every effort to avoid Sabbath work.

Deborah Fountain is the most pleasant woman you would ever hope to encounter as a flight attendant. Yet when she requested Sabbath accommodation, Alaska Air tried to fire her. They are investigating whether she lied on her employment application because she said she was available on weekends, apparently hoping to use that as a pretext for firing her. Ironically, Deborah was able to bid for an October schedule that avoided Sabbath work. We don’t know if she will be able to work that schedule.

C.L. Lewis applied to become an immigration inspector at LAX. She scored 98 percent on her written exam and passed her oral exam with flying colors — except for one question. She could not answer “yes” that she was available “24/7.” She explained her need for Sabbath accommodation. Instead of acknowledging any obligation to provide religious accommodation, the agency simply cut Lewis from the hiring process.

A lawsuit is now pending against the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Lewis, with funding from the Adventist Church, is challenging a system that excludes all people of faith who insist that their religious obligation to worship God regularly each week, or to observe a Sabbath, does not preclude them from serving their country.

Recently, the United States Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority on behalf of a Sabbath-observing Jewish man, who was excluded from driving a bus because of their scheduling system. The Justice Department has apparently taken the position that a scheduling system that makes it impossible to accommodate Sabbath observers is illegal.

This may help Bill Ingram, a mail carrier in Phoenix. He has had nothing but grief trying to obtain Sabbath accommodation. He has pointed out that the national contract between the Postal Service and the mail carriers allows for fixed days off. If the union locals permitted mail carriers to have fixed days off, Bill could work Monday through Friday. Most locals choose to adopt a rotating schedule of days off, thus depriving mail carriers of Sabbath accommodation. Does this system violate the civil rights of mail carriers?

As of press time, we still don’t know whether the Workplace Religious Freedom Act will pass this year. Some churches have been very active in showing their support, but too many churches have done very little. Where is our compassion for our brothers and sisters whose jobs, economic security and family life are hanging in the balance?

Many days, I feel a bit like the Dutch boy, holding my finger in a dike that’s about to explode. On a good day, I am hopeful that passage of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act will have a real impact and lift the burden on our church members who have to choose every day whether to be faithful to God or compromise in order to keep a job. Are we really a church family — a community? Are we willing to lend a hand to help one another? Every church must ask itself whether we have done all we can to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. Perhaps the bill will pass, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief, and thank God for providing tougher protections for our religious freedom. Then again, we may have another chance to push the bill next year.