Minority religions don't count
Posted by
zeitgeist
Jul 1 '10, 13:07
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A Texas-based Christian group is arguing in a California court on behalf of the California Department of Corrections that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects only major religions beliefs, but offers no protection for minority religions.
The reality-bending claim was made in an amicus curiae brief filed by WallBuilders, a Texas Christian group whose founder David Barton asserts that America was intended to be a �Christian nation.�
WallBuilders is represented in McCollum v. CDCF by a conservative Christian law firm, the National Legal Foundation, which made the assertion in a case dealing with prison chaplains.
The Reverend Patrick McCollum, a Wiccan clergyman, is suing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, asserting religious discrimination.
Rev. McCollum currently serves as a correctional chaplain for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in all 33 CDCR correctional institutions, a position he has held for more than twenty years.
When a job opening was announced for a paid chaplain's position, Rev. McCollum applied. He says he is a qualified candidate for a chaplain position, but is not being considered because of his religious beliefs.
Prison officials confirm that the chaplain position is available - but only to Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims or Native Americans.
The case is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and deals only with the issue of whether Rev. McCollum has �standing� - i.e., a legal right to have the case heard in court. CDCR attorneys argue that McCollum does not have that right.
WallBuilders further contends that the Founders never intended the Constitution�s religious liberty clauses �to protect paganism and witchcraft� and that the Founders wanted the word �religion� to include only monotheistic beliefs. They assert that the First Amendment does not protect the beliefs of minority religions.
�There are, of course, references to �heathens� and �pagans� among the writings of the Framers,� the group argues, �but there is no indication that those belief systems, including polytheism, are considered �religion.��
The WallBuilders brief relies on a law review article written in 2002 by ex-professor Lee Strang, formerly of the Roman Catholic, radical right wing Ave Maria Law School. The school is operated by Tom Monaghan, the Christian fundamentalist activist and founder of Dominos Pizza, who once tried to create a town in Florida that would allow in only Roman Catholics who share his personal theology.
McCollum v. CDF is an important case for all religions, not just minority faiths.
Rev. McCollum wrote,
�I�d like to start with a few true examples of discrimination to illustrate the severity of the problem: A Wiccan inmate has cancer and the prison guards refuse to transport him to his chemotherapy treatments unless he removes his religious pentacle medallion, which they have objections to. He chooses to forgo his chemotherapy and keep his pentacle. A Wiccan inmate has been trying to go to Wiccan services for months, but the guard at her dorm refuses to give her a pass. The guard says it is for the good of the Wiccan inmate�s soul. Another dying Wiccan writes his volunteer chaplain that he needs to see him before he crosses over. The chaplain makes numerous attempts to reach prison staff to receive the necessary clearances, but no one responds. But worse, prison mail room staff refuse to forward the chaplain�s mail, so that the inmate knows why his chaplain isn�t coming. Over more than a decade, I�ve had the opportunity to interact nationally with both administrators and inmates on religious accommodation issues. While practices differ from state to state, I found discrimination against minority faiths everywhere.�
As founder James Madison sagely noted,
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity in exclusion of all other religions may establish, with the same ease, any particular sect of Christians in exclusion of all other sects?" (James Madison, 'Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments' 1785)
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sources:
- http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2010/03/only-monotheists-rights.html
- McCollum, et al. v. CDCR, et al., #09-16404 http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-ca9/case_no-09-16404/case_id-0/
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