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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 20306
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
1/8/2009
6:04:27 pm EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 3,091
RSS: 10,681
Comments: 9
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Three Hours Long Enough For Wiccan Prisoners’ Religious Observance
Author: Lynda Waddington Source: The Iowa Independent
Title: THREE HOURS LONG ENOUGH FOR PRISONERS’ RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE
Three Iowa inmates, convinced that they were not allowed enough time for proper religious ceremony, have lost their claim on appeal. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision released today, affirmed the 2006 ruling of U.S. Magistrate Judge Ross Walters that the prisoners were provided adequate time for their religious ritual.
Lawrence Gladson, Darrell Smith and Scott Howrey were incarcerated at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison when they claimed their right to religious assembly had been violated. The three inmates, all practitioners of the Wiccan religion, filed for injunctive relief and monetary damages, citing their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 had been violated when prison officials limited their Samhain observance to three hours.
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Community Thoughts: There are 9 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| WELL.... | Jan 11th. at 5:23:49 am EST
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Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me
whattheheck do they expect? I agree with Aritimi....
DON'T DO THE CRIME IF YA CAN'T DO THE TIME!
(sorry - hadda say it)
Love to all
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| Hmph | Jan 9th. at 7:13:54 pm EST
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Aritimi Morgana (RotterdamJct/Schdy/Scotia, New York) - Email Me
methinks the boys in prison doth protest too much. They are in JAIL, which means they broke the law and therefore deserve to have their previous rights curtailed. Whatever happened to 'An it harm none'? They certainly trampled that if they wound up in prison.
I see this as nothing more than a blatant attempt for attention, not religious freedom. There are incidents all over this country of some moron conducting some sort of 'ritual' and when penalized, try to claim their 'religious freedoms' are being attacked. Reminds me of the religious nut who claimed his sleeping with underage girls was part of his religious beliefs. Sorry, but pedophilia is pedophilia. Like these 3 bozos in jail whining about their religious rights being trashed. If they were serious Wiccans, they would realize committing crimes really doesn't jive with pagan philosophy.
Though not all of us believe in the Threefold Rule, I think it makes sense here. You break the law, you're going to be punished for it. Sure, run from the law, but it'll catch up sooner or later. No sympathy for idiots.
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| 3 Hours???? | Jan 9th. at 4:22:28 pm EST
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Silver Faery (Hays, Kansas) - Email Me
I have participated in Samhain Rituals, Yule Rituals and many other group run rituals. The first hour was prep and set up, the second was the ritual and the third normally was the meal or whatever after it. If it was ever more then three hours was because once ritual was done it went on with friend visiting for hours afterwords!
Most church services are no longer then 2 or 3 hours tops. Stop complaining, you screwed up, serve your time and be happy with it.....
Silver Faery
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| Good Article | Jan 9th. at 11:51:09 am EST
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David Eagan (Cleveland, Ohio) - Email Me - Web
None of the snarky descriptions of Wicca, just an explanation of Samhain.
The comments here seem to be ignoring the last part of the article that the inmates did not file an equal protection suit. So the issue of equal time for other religious observances was not addressed by the court. RTFA
Also, I don't think three hours is necessarily too much to ask for in a prison environment where the inmates might be responsible for set up and clean up in addition to having the additional practical time consuming procedural hurdles of prison life.
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| Hmm, | Jan 9th. at 11:16:13 am EST
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Jeff Kincaid (Lynchburg, Virginia) - Email Me
I have to agree with RavenSpirit. I too tire of the constant whining for tools and such. When I was first learning, i was taught that you needed NO tools, other than intent. I still hold to that.
Now, if other faiths are given no more than 3 hrs, then this guy can not complain. If they are given more, then he may have a case.
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| Inmates And Time | Jan 9th. at 10:57:23 am EST
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Raven Spirit (Kansas City, Missouri) - Email Me
OK I want to state upfront that I do not have a lot of respect for inmates. I really dont for inmates that whine and cry about rights being violated when there are victums out there that have to deal with the aftermath of what ever the crime was.....
If the dept of corrections gives them 1 hour to do a ritual 8 times a year they have met the requirements.
They are in prison for a reason. I personally feel (and no the courts do not agree) that they gave up most of their rights when they went to prison.
I get tired of this pagan or that pagan in prison wanting candles, swords, etc etc etc when they are in PRISON.
You want a sword, candle all day to do a ritual....dont break the law. It is not a hard concept.
You have to work at going to prison. There are warnings, probation, etc.....
My ex GF was probation and porole...I got to hear about things that I would have put them away for a very long time....instead...probation.
Sorry if my heart does not bleed blue....
Do your time, get out....then hold a all week ritual.
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| Well??? | Jan 9th. at 2:51:00 am EST
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RowanHawk (Scottsburg, Indiana) - Email Me
I agree with Bigcat, if other faiths are getting longer time alloted to them well this needs to be fair, however.
We have often spent many hours in preperation for the ritual but we have rarely spent more than 3 hours in ritual. I would think that any prep work could be done by these gentlemen prior to the actual ritual, they have lots of time on their hands. Its often so hard to tell the real situation from these brief articles so who knows?
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| That Would Depend.. | Jan 9th. at 12:16:08 am EST
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
On how much time non- Wiccans are given for their own devotionals. If it's more than three hours, they might have an argument.
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| I Can't Imagine... | Jan 8th. at 7:54:16 pm EST
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
...spending 3 hours in group ritual, let alone needing more than 3 consecutive hours for any sabbat observance.
I can see where not being able to get outside, alone, in the dark, somewhere quiet could put a serious cramp in my personal observances...
...and, since I acknowledge that not everyone is a sit-alone-and-meditate solitary, I'll allow that it might cut an involved cakes and ale session a bit short...
...but this is prison, after all. You know, that "Your rights and privileges are being curtailed because (we hope, anyway) we have logical grounds to believe you did something that was probably really destructive to society" thing???
I suppose the only really relevant question to ask would be whether more than three hours were allotted for the observance of, say, Christmas et al.
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