Prisoners should not be forced to check their religion at the jailhouse doorstep. -- Suits me Karl.
A 08-14-04 post entitled "Bob Barr and the ACLU would think they had died and gone to heaven here" was about how aggressively France has moved to expel Muslims preaching hatred. The post noted:
"France has taken one of the hardest lines of any Western country in fighting Islamic extremism. Other democracies, including the U.S., have been criticized for excessive methods, such as holding prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But few have been as systematic and zealous as France in attempting to stamp out Islamic militancy.
"'Today, one can no longer separate terrorist acts from the words that feed them,' Interior Minister Dominique [says].
"Earlier this year, France passed a law that bars Muslim girls from wearing head scarves at public schools. Its counterterrorism magistrates often round up suspects in broad sweeps and detain them for years without trial. With its new practice of expelling Muslim preachers, France is taking its campaign against extremism one step farther.
"France's hardball approach comes as Europe faces stark questions about how to integrate its surging Muslim population. Once tiny, it has grown exponentially, fueled by immigration from North Africa and the Middle East and from countries such as Turkey and Pakistan, as well as by higher birth rates in Muslim families. France, with a population of about 60 million, is now home to an estimated five million to seven million Muslims, the most in Western Europe.
"Other Western European countries with large Muslim communities, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, haven't gone as far as France for fear of undermining basic civil liberties. . . .
"France argues that its tough stance pays off: There has been no terrorism on French soil since Algeria's Armed Islamic Group conducted a wave of bombings in Paris in 1995. And France harbored none of the cells that plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. or the March 11 train bombings in Spain."
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Compare what the French are doing with what is going on in the US of A.
With respect to Georgia, you might recall the 08-24-04 post (a follow up on a couple of posts about faith based prisons) that observed that when "Corrections Commissioner James Donald [was] introducing us to faith-based prisons," "we are assuming this is not Muslim faith based Commissioner."
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And then today in the ajc we read that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (which sits in Atlanta) reporting that a a Georgia prison inmate has won an important court ruling in his bid to wear a yarmulke at all times and be served kosher food.
The decision came as a result of challenge filed by Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker asking the federal appeals court to find the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person Act violates the Establishment Clause and the Tenth Amendment, which reserves to the states rights not delegated to the federal government.
That Act passed by Congress requires state prisons receiving federal funds to refrain from restricting prisoners' in the exercise of their religion.
The unanimous ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals simply finds the 2000 Act constitutional, and the case now returns to the United States District Court for the Southern District to determine whether to require the state prison system to allow the Georgia prisoner to wear a yarmulke and be served kosher food.
The 11th Circuit's ruling upholding the religious accommodation law for prisoners is the latest victory for the 2000 act. Federal appeals courts in Richmond, San Francisco and Chicago also have rejected challenges to the statute.
However, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati has found the law unconstitutional. That case, brought by inmates who observe polytheistic religions and who declare themselves Satanists, was recently accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Thus stay tuned.
_______________
The Georgia prison inmate in this case was a "Torah-observant Jew" serving a life sentence for murder in Fulton County. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and thus will apply to a Koran-observant Muslin.
Does this ruling bother me?
Heck no. I remain a proud Democrat after Nov. 5, 2002 and Nov. 2, 2004, but you are not going to find me out beating the bushes on any such issue that could allow the Republicans to claim that they have a monopoly on religion and religious values.
Karl Rove might want my Party to be defensive, but for me and my house, what you are going to be hearing from me is what I am for, and what my Party now and always has stood for.
We have a great country, and I am proud of the good things the Democratic Party has done to make it so.
"France has taken one of the hardest lines of any Western country in fighting Islamic extremism. Other democracies, including the U.S., have been criticized for excessive methods, such as holding prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But few have been as systematic and zealous as France in attempting to stamp out Islamic militancy.
"'Today, one can no longer separate terrorist acts from the words that feed them,' Interior Minister Dominique [says].
"Earlier this year, France passed a law that bars Muslim girls from wearing head scarves at public schools. Its counterterrorism magistrates often round up suspects in broad sweeps and detain them for years without trial. With its new practice of expelling Muslim preachers, France is taking its campaign against extremism one step farther.
"France's hardball approach comes as Europe faces stark questions about how to integrate its surging Muslim population. Once tiny, it has grown exponentially, fueled by immigration from North Africa and the Middle East and from countries such as Turkey and Pakistan, as well as by higher birth rates in Muslim families. France, with a population of about 60 million, is now home to an estimated five million to seven million Muslims, the most in Western Europe.
"Other Western European countries with large Muslim communities, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, haven't gone as far as France for fear of undermining basic civil liberties. . . .
"France argues that its tough stance pays off: There has been no terrorism on French soil since Algeria's Armed Islamic Group conducted a wave of bombings in Paris in 1995. And France harbored none of the cells that plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. or the March 11 train bombings in Spain."
_______________
Compare what the French are doing with what is going on in the US of A.
With respect to Georgia, you might recall the 08-24-04 post (a follow up on a couple of posts about faith based prisons) that observed that when "Corrections Commissioner James Donald [was] introducing us to faith-based prisons," "we are assuming this is not Muslim faith based Commissioner."
_______________
And then today in the ajc we read that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (which sits in Atlanta) reporting that a a Georgia prison inmate has won an important court ruling in his bid to wear a yarmulke at all times and be served kosher food.
The decision came as a result of challenge filed by Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker asking the federal appeals court to find the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person Act violates the Establishment Clause and the Tenth Amendment, which reserves to the states rights not delegated to the federal government.
That Act passed by Congress requires state prisons receiving federal funds to refrain from restricting prisoners' in the exercise of their religion.
The unanimous ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals simply finds the 2000 Act constitutional, and the case now returns to the United States District Court for the Southern District to determine whether to require the state prison system to allow the Georgia prisoner to wear a yarmulke and be served kosher food.
The 11th Circuit's ruling upholding the religious accommodation law for prisoners is the latest victory for the 2000 act. Federal appeals courts in Richmond, San Francisco and Chicago also have rejected challenges to the statute.
However, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati has found the law unconstitutional. That case, brought by inmates who observe polytheistic religions and who declare themselves Satanists, was recently accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Thus stay tuned.
_______________
The Georgia prison inmate in this case was a "Torah-observant Jew" serving a life sentence for murder in Fulton County. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and thus will apply to a Koran-observant Muslin.
Does this ruling bother me?
Heck no. I remain a proud Democrat after Nov. 5, 2002 and Nov. 2, 2004, but you are not going to find me out beating the bushes on any such issue that could allow the Republicans to claim that they have a monopoly on religion and religious values.
Karl Rove might want my Party to be defensive, but for me and my house, what you are going to be hearing from me is what I am for, and what my Party now and always has stood for.
We have a great country, and I am proud of the good things the Democratic Party has done to make it so.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 3:03 PM
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