Atheist Awarded $2M in Settlement After Being Refused Secular Rehab Treatment

originally posted by: Kromlech
What's HILARIOUS is the melodrama Atheists thrive on...

"OMG Christianity... WOE IS ME, I'M SCORNED... I DIDN'T SURVIVE A BIBLE CLASS, I BURST INTO FLAMES. OMG, he's wearing a cross, omg hiss hiss!!!" Next...

Yeah, you survived it, buttercup, but your guilty conscience didn't, hence you suing...

How would you like to live in a society where the government forced you to attend something run by satanists? It's not being able to just sit there and endure it, it's the unequal treatment under the law.

Its the principle that the government can't prefer one religion over another.

It seems to me that some religious people try to turn the argument around and become the victim in cases where atheists stand up for themselves, pointing out the religious bias within the government.

The government can't support or force someone to engage in something religious due to the establishment clause:

The "Establishment Clause" was intended to prevent any governmental endorsement or support of religion. While one might intuitively read this to mean that the clause was meant to preclude endorsement or support of some particular religion, it is important to note that the clause also prohibits the endorsement of religion generally over non-religion. As the Court noted in 1947, “A large proportion of the early settlers of this country came here from Europe to escape the bondage of laws which compelled them to support and attend government-favored churches.” Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 8 (1947).

nationalparalegal.edu

And I guarantee that if Christians were forced to attend Muslim-themed treatment centers where they had to submit to "Alah" in 6 out of 12 steps -- they'd be crying for the Establishment Clause too.

originally posted by: LoneCloudHopper2
a reply to: DelMarvel

Really..? Native peoples often worship God (the Creator or whatever,) as do many, many cultures around the world. There are many different outlooks of what God is exactly. That's why it is non-religious to say "The God of your understanding."

Wrong. Any system of thought from whatever world culture that has the concept of "God" is by definition religious.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
And I guarantee that if Christians were forced to attend Muslim-themed treatment centers where they had to submit to "Alah" in 6 out of 12 steps -- they'd be crying for the Establishment Clause too.

HA! If that happened, every right wing media outlet would be screaming Sharia Law before the ink dried on the summons sending the Christian to the Muslim treatment center.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

There wee a few things in that article that were incorrect, such as that being the only approved center.

If the judge ordered a Christian to a Muslim rehab, where the whole crux of getting clean relied on getting to know Allah and turning yourself over to him........there would be riots in the streets.

Think about it.

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

Aaarrrgghhh....MystikMushroom you beat me to it!!! Lmao!

Nobody should be ordered to do something they don't agree with, that being said it sounds like this guy found a loophole to get himself out of rehab, and a ton of money to boot... something that probably won't play out well for him.

originally posted by: Southern Guardian
Yep this pretty much needs to stop. Requiring people to attend religious programs or prayers or whatever?? Not acceptable.

An atheist who spent a year in a California prison for methamphetamine possession charges in 2007 was awarded nearly $2 million on Wednesday as part of a settlement related to a lawsuit claiming that his religious freedom was violated when he refused to participate in a court ordered rehab program with a religious spin.

In a case that has dragged on for seven years, Barry Hazle Jr. charged the state of California and a contractor with infringing on his religious freedoms by ordering him to spend 90 days in a rehab facility that required him to submit to a "higher power" as a part of its 12-step program.

news.vice.com...

Personally I don't have a problem with the choice given to attend a faith based treatment program, but being ordered to attend one? How long I wonder have officials being getting away with forcing this on people? We've heard kids being forced in schools and now this? And we hear non-stop about this so called persecution of christians on Fox news. Give me a break.

The only reason there are faith based rehab is to get ppl at there lowest turned to religion so at the end they can say god got them sober. They get more people in the church doors so they can get more money for the collection. Cause in the end it's all about that plate.

a reply to: gflyg

I agree with this, the institutionalized religions such as Catholicism, which in my opinion is a warped version of Christianity, practically operates like a mafia.