Posted on 12/28/2004 8:13:52 AM PST by bedolido
WASHINGTON - A religious liberties lawsuit brought by a Satan worshipper, a Wiccan witch, a white supremacist, and an adherent of an ancient Viking religion is drawing the impassioned support of major national religious groups as it approaches a hearing before the Supreme Court.
The case is potentially the most important religious liberties case on this year's docket, impacting how far a state can go to accommodate the religious practices of its citizens and whether Congress can require states to be more accommodating.
The case was filed by a group of Ohio inmates - Jon Cutter, J. Lee Hampton, John Gerhardt, John Miller, and Daryl Blankenship - who are demanding access to religious books, medallions, and costumes, as well as the right to worship in groups while in custody.
Ohio prison officials have dismissed their religious claims as a cover for gang activities, noting as an example that one of the plaintiffs belongs to a church that has been linked to the Ku Klux Klan. Their lawyer countered that they are sincere: Mr. Blankenship, who practices a polytheistic Nordic religion called Asatru, fasted for weeks in protest of prison rules and was hospitalized.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
End of article for me.
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Yeah, that's the guy you want to get stuck sharing a cell with! LOL
Viking eh?
"This week, the court received written briefs supporting the law from more than 50 religious and civil rights groups, including the National Association of Evangelicals and the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, an umbrella group that includes the Conference of Catholic Bishops; the Anti-Defamation League; numerous national Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Mennonite, Presbyterian, and Mormon groups; the liberal group People for the American Way, and the conservative Liberty Counsel.
...
The religious groups' position is also backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which have filed their own briefs before the court."
That's different
Well, if I was in a prison cell, I guess I would rather be stuck with a Viking than a Packer. LOL
"I'm Thor!"... and an adherent of an ancient Viking religion ...Yeah, that's the guy you want to get stuck sharing a cell with!
"You're Thor? I'm tho Thor, I can't even move ..."
But couldn't the "caste of warriors" had a particular religion? Wouldn't that be similar to the Knights Templar?
What surprises me is that the author of the article relates these new-age pagans with the KKK.
The article says that "one" of the plantiffs is associated with the KKK. Unless the Klan has changed a lot lately, I'm betting it is the white supremacist.
Also known as Purple People Eaters. Cannibalism will be the next Civil Right.
That was Frigga-in' bad!!!
that's simply Thor-able!
Ping!
we just need the law to spend more time in the donut shops, and let the public settle this stuff
I think the author was referring to two different people there. In the first paragraph, the white supremacist and the pagan were listed separately. I have heard of an allegedly Christian church that is made up of white supremacists, IIRC it is called the First Church of the Creator. (I am not positive, so please do not flame me if I got it wrong!) Separately, a number of neo-Nazi groups are believed to follow a corrupt form of the old pantheistic religion that was common in Germany a few centuries ago.
Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) - http://www.alliancedefensefund.org
Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) - http://www.thomasmore.org
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) - http://www.aclj.org
The Rutherford Institute - http://www.rutherford.org/
Stop the ACLU Coalition - http://www.stoptheaclu.org
Here are a few examples of how two of those organizations are fighting back:
ADF Contacts Over 3,600 School Districts Over Attempts To Censor Christmas
ADF: 700 lawyers ready to fight ACLU lawsuits
ADF: Pentagons' Warning About Boyscouts Is Absurd
Thomas More Law Center: Town of Palm Beach Pays $50,000 In Attorney Fees Apologizes To Women In Nativity Lawsuit
Additional information:
The ACLU must be destroyed: Joseph Farah supports Boy Scouts, urges Americans to fight back
Citizens mobilized to stop ACLU (seeks to consign group to 'ash heap of history')
ACLU fulfilling communist agenda
Revealing FACTS on the ACLU from its own writings
See how YOUR Senator or Representative ranks with the ACLU
This yahoo group just started on December 3, 2004 and is looking for new members
Let me know if you would like to join my ACLU ping list
However, these idiots are in jail. They have lost their rights to Freedom for their crimes. Not sure having a bunch of neo-pagans, Odinic Rite, and Satanists running around our prison system with ritual blades would be such a hot, sparkling idea.
They can still practice their faith without them.
You're so far off the map, I can't even figure out your Loki.
This make me want to scream until I'm Norse.
Asartu as it is practiced today is generally associated with neo-nazi prison gangs. The mythology (whether true or not) among these gangs is that Adolph Hitler was a follower of asartu.
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Hall
Not a creature was stirring, not warrior nor thrall.
And I in my armor, my greaves and my helm
Was drunker than anyone else in the Realm.
I staggered upstairs and fell into bed
While four quarts of mead were ablaze in my head.
Then up from below came the sounds of a brawl
So I grabbed up my axe and ran down to the Hall.
I missed the last step and crashed down in a heap
Thinking, "Why can't those low-lifes downstairs go to sleep!"
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But two brawny strangers, wielding mallet and spear.
I said to myself, "We'll soon have them beat!"
Then I noticed ten warriors laid out at their feet.
I gave out a yell and leapt into the fray...
I'll always regret my poor choice of that day.
For the one laid his hammer to the side of my nose
And up, up, up to the rafters I rose.
Then came a lone frightened voice from the floor,
"Those are no mortal warriors -- that's Odin and Thor!"
Then they looked at each other and they said, "Battle's done.
Now they know who we are, it no longer is fun."
Then Thor raised his hammer, and his elbow he bent,
And with a loud crash, through the ceiling they went.
I crawled through the Hall and flung open the door,
Not really sure that I'd seen them before.
The snow bathed in starlight, the moon like a glede,
I saw them ride off on an eight-legged steed.
And I heard them exclaim,
'ere they flew out of sight,
"TO H*LL WITH CHRISTMAS,
WE JUST LOVE A GOOD FIGHT!"
And look who's getting the attention. This is troubling and the (dangerous) fringe gets so much attention. Prisoners could and will choose to adopt historical and obscure "religions" to either hide their gang activities or force the people to spend tax money making specific accommodations for such a small group.
Meanwhile here in Hawaii, a Catholic church could not have a cross because it would be seen from the interstate and be offensive to non-believers. What's wrong with this picture?
OK, so let's say the prionsers rights are being violated. So what? We violate their rights by keeping them in a jail cell. Or, to put it more accurately, we assume that they have forefeited their rights because of the crimes that they have comitted. Why not just add their religious freedoms to the rights that they forefeit in jail?
Reread the article. The adherent of the church associated with the KKK joined the lawsuit based on the legal issues, and not based on any relations with the others' beliefs. That was his only connection to the other plaintiffs (besides being incarcerated).
Totally agree
Arming the incarcerated is something which should always be frowned upon.
You know, that's a pretty good point.
The adherent of the church associated with the KKK joined the lawsuit based on the legal issues, and not based on any relations with the others' beliefs.That's a Norse of a different color ...
Ohio - which has until late next month to file its briefs - signaled it may attack one of the most powerful weapons Congress has to enforce federal civil rights laws in the states: attaching conditions to the money it gives to the states.
"It would radically limit the power of Congress to say, 'If you want our money, you have to use it in a way that is appropriate,' " said a lawyer for the plaintiffs, David Goldberger, a professor of law at the Ohio State University College of Law.
Ohio could also attempt to argue that the federal government has no business regulating religious accommodations, on the hotly disputed theory that the framers of the Constitution intended the Establishment Clause to relegate such matters to the states.
If the court accepted that view, which has some adherents among legal scholars and has received sympathy from at least one member of the bench, Justice Thomas, then states would be free to provide as much or as little accommodation to religious practices as they wished.
It seems to me that God often works in ways that people describe as "unintended consequences".
I'm not suggesting that the state should be in the business of supressing religion, but there is no reason why the state should have to accomodate every crackpot criminal who claims his weird beliefs are a religion.
Yes, thanks for pointing that out.
Consenting adults.
You're Loki that post didn't get deleted.
I get nervous whenever the Govt gets in the practice of deciding what is a "legitimate" religion and what's not.
I would guess that most people think other people's religions equal "weird beliefs".
Less than half of all Britons now believe in God: survey ^
Results of,...'Clockwork Orange'.....BBC Pervert T.V. coming to a living room near you?
/sarcasm
I see your point... I guess I just have never understood prisoners suing over their rights being violated. I mean, of course their rights are being violated. They are being detained in a cell all day long.
I see you were a Marine 'Winger from '88-'94. I was one from '86-'95. Quite possibly you were the guy I remember. Small world, eh?
By the way, I found it amusing not because I thought the viewpoint was trite, which I didn't, but because of the awkwardness of having the religious tolerance policies tested. It was a good demonstration that those policies were not just lip service, but would actually be followed.
Asatru and other obscure religions may seem like "weird beliefs" to you and me, however they are long standing recognized religions.
Where were you stationed? I was a 400 Div Engine Mechanic. First station was at Beaufort, SC with MALS-31.
"The case was filed by a group of Ohio inmates..."
That's as far as I got. Let the General Population *work it out*, and stop wasting taxpayer money.
If the orthodox Jews, Mormons, ACLU, and People for the American Way all agree on something, it must be right.
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