"Arman came by the other day, man," said Homeless Jack. "We had a discussion on religion and he asked me to tell you that I should have made it clearer that The Guide, that's the back part of the book Ourselves Alone & Homeless Jack's Religion, can be ripped out and used as a separate book and it can be copied free of charge by believers and by those with the potential to be believers. Arman says prisoners who are believers need copies so they can worship as they should and so they can be guided on the right path in life and can do as God wants.

"Arman brought this up, apparently, because of some recent news stories that he read. One was about the U.S. Supreme Court getting ready to hear a case on religious freedom.

"It seems that people from several non-traditional religions who are in prison in Ohio--a Satan Worshipper, a Witch, someone who follows Asatru and maybe some others, want access to religious books, medallions, special food, special religious attire and some other stuff that is important in each of their religions. They also want the right to worship in groups. Apparently, Ohio officials have been stopping prisoners from worshipping as they want unless they follow the state approved one size fits all namby pamby Stepfordized Americanism that has infiltrated most mainline religions in the U.S. and has turned them into government approved pabulum whose God is some sort of do your own thing kindly Hippie in the sky who isn't judgmental and who teaches things that are popular in the U.S. at this time.

"Arman said it looks from the news story as if some officials are trying to marshal public opinion against the prisoners and their religious rights by pointing out that one of the prisoners is a so-called "white supremacist" who belongs to a church that has been "linked" to the Ku Klux Klan (Cluck your tongue, Ma, and say, "We can't have none of them around these parts").

"Religious diversity in America is a laugh, man. What's the difference between Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam and all the rest? They have different names for their religions or branches of religions, but they've all been neutered so what they preach is pretty much the same huggy kissy stuff with slight government approved variations. That's not religious freedom, man, and that's not the way the founders set up this nation. Anyway, it seems that even though they mostly preach what the government wants, a whole bunch of main stream religious organizations, along with various civil libertarian types, agree with the prisoners and are asking the Supreme Court to let the prisoners have their religious rights.

"The reason these mainstream types have jumped in is simple. See, under our system of government and laws, what is allowed for one religion must be allowed for all religions and what is denied for one religion must be denied for all religions. If a prison denies the right of a prisoner to wear, say, a swastika medallion--if it's part of his religion--then it must also deny the right for others to wear a Christian cross or a Star of David. The state must be content neutral in its look at such things. In other words, in the eyes of the state, a religious symbol is a religious symbol. Period. The state can't say this religious symbol is okay, but this other religious symbol isn't. It's the same way with religious books. If a prison tries to keep a prisoner from having a copy of, say, The Guide, a book that is as necessary for Arman's religion as the Bible is for Christians and Jews, and the Koran is for Muslims, then it must ban all religious books. It's only fair, man. To do otherwise is to say one religion is okay but others aren't, and this means that the state has a state religion. That's not the way it's supposed to be in the U.S.

"Now, in truth, we really do have a state religion in this nation. Doubt it? Look at our laws on marriage, as just one example--one man, one woman. That's a religious law that came from Judaism and Christianity that has been incorporated into our secular laws. No matter how it's sliced, it's still a religious law. People in some other religions believe that a man can have more than one wife, but the U.S. government won't let them. That's not right, man.

"If the Supreme Court gets it right and approaches this case in the correct justice-is-blind manner, then we should all have more religious freedom. If the court gets it wrong, then we'll have even less religious freedom. We'll just have to wait to see their ruling; which should come down later this year.

"Arman also said that our people with genetic consciousness need to stop looking at various laws and some so-called civil liberty groups as automatically being against us. Fair laws and honest civil liberty groups work on principles that are applied across the board, and that's the way it should be. After all, we all pay taxes and we should all have the same treatment by the government. We shouldn't be discriminated against by the government--which, remember, is made up of people with their own religions and biases--because of the color of our skin or because of our religious beliefs. At the same time, we don't have to wear our religion on our sleeves unless we personally choose to do so. Religion is personal and we don't have to explain or apologize for our faith to anyone. However, Arman says that we are supposed to spread the faith to those with potential.

"Arman also repeated something he had said before about what the government can and cannot do in regards to individual religious believers. Arman says that the law is clear on the point that the government can inquire as to whether someone really believes something, but it can't rule that this or that belief is absurd and not worthy of believing. If you believe an onion in your closet is God, and if you truly believe this, then the government must leave you along to believe as you want. You can bet the Catholics, with their belief that they're drinking God's blood and eating God's flesh during their communion ceremony, are happy about this.

"The other news story that Arman mentioned was about a guy who had killed his family and left a note that God told him he should bring his family to heaven. Arman says that's one of the problems with Christianity. It's a death religion and has many nuts in it. Arman pointed out that his religion is a religion of life and that such a thing would never happen because God wants His people to live as long as possible so they can breed to their maximum. You can't breed when you're dead."

#  #  #

THE OUTSIDER - (ISBN: 0-595-19424-9)
H. Millard’s underground classic story of alienation is
available at Amazon.com by clicking on the this link or by calling 1-877-823-9235:

Recommend this page to a friend

• References: (Note: links may expire and content not necessary endorsed by H. Millard
  or New Nation News but presented for further study for those interested in the topic by the NNN editor.)
• Court to hear prison religion case
• Also far-reaching will be U.S. Supreme Court decisions in three religious-liberty cases, two involving government displays of the Ten Commandments (Van Orden v. Perry and McCreary County v. ACLU) and one concerning the religious freedom of prisoners (Cutter v. Wilkinson).
• Cutter v. Wilkinson The plaintiffs in this case are Ohio prisoners who contend that various Ohio corrections officials have violated ...
• American Civil Liberties Union : Cutter v. Wilkinson
• Google search Cutter v. Wilkinson
• Southern Poverty: How are prison officials to balance security interests and the right of racial supremacists to pursue religion?
• New York Times to White Prisoners: ‘Bend Over and Take It’
• Inmates Are Free to Practice Black Supremacist Religion, Judge Rules
• The Aryan Brotherhood (AB) originated in San Quentin prison in 1967
• Google: "Church of Jesus Christ Christian"
  
• Act 5:19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth
  

New Nation News Frontpage