Jolinda Cary's Blog
Posted by Jolinda Cary
A Mormon fundamentalist in in court this week, asking that the Supreme Court overturn his conviction in a polygamy charge (nevermind that his second wife was just 16 years old, apparently its just the multiple marriages that are at issue here).
Rodney Holm's lawyer is arguing, in essence, that targeting polygamists is in essence religious discrimination, since the state does nothing to persecute those who cohabitate, practice serial monogamy, or have sexual relations outside of marriage.
Hmmm. It will be interesting to see what the Supreme Court thinks about this one! I want to know if Holm's first wife was cited for practicing polygamy as well.
What do you think?
Discuss: Polygamy: Is it ok?
Related Article: Justices may see bigamy case
Posted by Jolinda Cary
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy-"
"Shhhh! I'm trying to read!"
This was the case in northern California this past week, when a Contra Costa County federal appeals court ruled that a library can ban a church groups from meeting on its premises.
Contrary to sensationalistic headlines, the ruling does not ban prayer in public libraries, but rather bans the use of library space for religious worship services. Lawyers for the church claim their client has been censored, and their First Amendment rights violated. The church group will appeal again, and plans on taking this case all the way to the top.
Like so often, however, there appears to be more to this story than immediately meets the eye. In this case, it turns out that the church in question was not simply interested in quietly praying behind closed library meeting room doors, but rather was interested in meeting at the church for the purposes of evangelism. This, in my mind, changes everything.
Public space should remain that - public space. A public sidewalk is for everyone, and so is the library. But a library serves a specific purpose in our society different than that of another kind of public space, such as a town square or a park. While noisy junior high kids giggling loudly over an anatomy text or running through the stacks can be asked to leave a library, these same kids roughhousing and yelling on a street corner or public park cannot - and should not - be asked to leave. Same for evangelism. Our free speech rights should not be trumped in public places, but in the case of the library, a patron's right to read, undisturbed, trumps the right of an evangelist to disturb them.
That being said, I see no reason why a church group should be denied access to booking meeting rooms at a library, provided all groups religious and otherwise, play by the same rules and have equal access to the space. Anything less is a very slippery slope. What constitutes a religion should not be defined by the government, much less any podunk town library, and, banning "religious" groups lays the framework for banning other groups. Could a meditation group be denied access? What about an astrology or role-playing group?
What do you think?
Posted by Jolinda Cary
In order to have an informed discussion on whether the polygamist practices of Warren Jeffs, the FLDS church and others like it are an example of pushing the limits of religious freedom or are little more thatn human and civil rights abuses thinly disguised as religious practice, we must understand the role polygamy plays for groups like Warren Jeffs'.
What is the history of polygamy? Where did it come from? Why do people still follow this practice? I've posted an article that will help answer some of these questions.
Link: Understanding Polygamy
Posted by Jolinda Cary
The Virgin Mary in some chocolate drippings, Jesus in a CAT scan, the word "GOD" on an alligator (God writes in all caps? Really?) - it seems like the divinity is popping up just about everywhere these days! In modern times, it may have all started in pop culture with that fateful grilled cheese sandwhich (or was the Virgin in the flour tortilla first?). However these things get started, they almost all seem to end up the same place - eBay.
Let's analyze the situation. Let's say you're doing some spring cleaning at home one afternoon, removing pennies from the sofa cushion, vacuuming up cat hair and the like when you spot a large dust bunny in the corner. You're just about to whip out your broom when you realize that this is no ordinary dust bunny - it's a dust bunny in the shape of JESUS!! After a few "Hail Mary's" you do what any normal evangelizing believer would do: you alert the media so that all the unbelievers, heathens, idolaters and pagans may know that Jesus will indeed rise again, after all, he has shown his visage in the unlikely form of a dust bunny in your living room this lovely Spring morning.
Fine. I have no problem up to this point. But, if you really believe that Jesus has appeared to you in this dust bunny (or grilled cheese sandwich or whatever) why is the next step usually to sell the item? My understanding of Biblical theology may be sophmoric, but its my understanding that when Jesus turned over the tables and drove the moneychangers out of the temple, this was not an allegory, and the message is pretty clear. The Grilled Cheese Madonna sold for $28,000 - nearly twice what minimum wage earners in some states make in a year.
Maybe its just me, but if God in person revealed himself to me, he wouldn't be for sale. And if I was tempted to sell that toasted dairy sandwich, there's no way my conscience would let me keep a penny to myself. The money would go straight into the pockets of my local homeless shelter.
Of course, if you keep it and revere it as the manisfestation or incarnation of divinity on a pretzel, aren't you guilty of idolatry?
So the next time you see Mary in your marinara or Jesus in your French poodle's fur, do us all a favor and keep it between you and God. No reason to issue a press release.
But if Siva or Kali appears in your Cheerios, do give us all a call.
Posted by Jolinda Cary
Anyone who has ever stood in line at the DMV knows that sometimes, it takes a while to get somewhere within a government bureacracy. But 9 years? At what point is it valid to assume there is some purposeful stalling going on?
It was nine years ago in 1997 that pagan groups began petitioning the US Dept. of Veterans Affairs to include the five-pointed pentacle on the headstones of soldiers killed in action. In response, the VA has twiddled it's collective thumbs, refusing to issue an official acceptance or denial.
Among the formally recognized religious symbols are those of atheists, Eckankar, and Soka Gakkai, amongst 35 others.
It seems to me that the government places wiccans in the same camp as gay and lesbian enlistees. "You can join the armed forces," the government says, "you can serve, you can fight and you can die for us, but we will vehemently deny and repress the basic essence of who you are."
Don't ask, don't tell - for both sexual/gender identity and spiritual path - is institutionalized and sanctioned discrimination. Just another example of our collective social disregard for the constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
What do you think? Should pagan soldiers have the right to identify their path on their headstone?
