Victory for atheist denied parole for not attending religious substance abuse program
By Scott Kaufman
Monday, March 31, 2014 11:34 EDT
A Missouri atheist who was denied probation because he refused to participate in a religious-based substance abuse program has won a legal victory against Western Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center (WRDCC) in St. Joseph.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that the district court that dismissed Randall Jackson’s lawsuit with prejudice erred in doing so. Jackson had sued the WRDCC because he claimed that, as an atheist, its Offenders Under Treatment Program (OUTP) violated his rights under the First Amendment.
According to Jackson, he was required to attend the OUTP in order to be eligible for early release on parole. Once there, he discovered that the program “had required meetings [and] invoked religious tenets by using the serenity prayer and religious meditations.” When he objected to this, OUTP staff suggested he “act as if,” a term of art in the program that means to “assume a role or attitude even if you don’t feel like it,” which is “[a] tool used to assist one in ‘trying on’ new patterns of thought and behavior.”
Staff further suggested that he “use ‘God’ as an acronym for ‘good orderly direction.’”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/31/victory-for-atheist-denied-parole-for-not-attending-religious-substance-abuse-program/
The story links to the Eighth Circuit decision.
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