From: dgross@worf.acs.calpoly.edu (Dave Gross)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,misc.legal
Subject: Oppose the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Date: 6 Jan 93 21:14:46 GMT
Organization: Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo

Copyright (c) 1993 Dave Gross

Get High, Meet God, Go to Jail
by
Dave Gross


The Supreme Court recently decided that you can't break the law just because
your religion teaches that it's okay to do so.  The laws are there for
everyone, the Court decided, and the government doesn't have to let some
people off the hook because of their religious beliefs.

The next day, the headlines read "Supreme Court Bans Use of Peyote by Native
Americans."

But the truth is that the Supreme Court didn't decide whether peyote use by
Native Americans was bad or good.  It just decided that it's not
unconstitutional to apply narcotics laws to everyone equally.  The Court
decided that the government doesn't have to have a separate standard of law
that grants exceptions to people whose god or gods disapprove to certain
regulations.

Makes perfect sense to me.

But widespread panic ensued, and Congress will soon be considering the
"Religious Freedom Restoration Act," which would allow people to break the
law, within certain limits, if their religion asks them to.

And all the fashionable liberals (and some good old-fashioned conservatives
uncomfortable with the image of the local priest being carried away in
handcuffs after communion for "serving alcohol to a minor") are in favor of
this legislation.  Goes to show that all the fashionable liberals have a span
of connected thought about as short as a Bush sentence fragment.

I mean, after all, those crazy folks blockading abortion clinics are all
breaking the law based on their religious beliefs.  Should they all be off the
hook?  What about those mythical satanists who kidnap mythical babies for
sacrifices to Beelzebub?  Or the various lunatics who go on killing sprees
prompted by the screaming voice of Jesus echoing in their skulls?  It's all a
part of their religion, right?

Don't get me wrong -- I don't think that it's wrong to use peyote in religious
ceremonies.  In fact, the use of psychedelic drugs is a deep and positive
religious experience for many inside and outside the Native American Church,
myself included.  My belief is that you shouldn't have to join a particular
church in order to take peyote.  It should either be legal for everyone or
illegal for everyone (I suggest the former).

In fact, where reasonable people disagree about whether an act is moral or
immoral -- especially in the case of such absolutely victimless crimes as
peyote use (when was the last time you heard of a peyote-fiend holding up a
7-11 to get money for her next fix, or a peyote dealer cruising around the
local high-school looking for new customers?) -- the government really should
back out and let individuals choose their own paths.

And taken to the logical conclusion, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
would make it legal for everyone to take drugs -- they would just have to
declare some sort of dope-ridden religion on the spot.  "Sorry, officer, today
I worship Athena with the sacrament of cocaine.  You can let me go now."  But
Congress is reluctant, as usual, to take anything to a logical conclusion.

The usual government way of granting exceptions to the law for religious
groups is to say that only certain, well-established religious groups (with
certain, well-established law-breaking traditions) may break the law.  This
puts the government in the shady (and, frankly, unconstitutional -- check your
First Amendment) business of establishing the two categories of official and
unofficial religions, and of official and unofficial religious practices.

In other words:  Church A has been using peyote for 150 years, so people with
x percent of ethnic blood can use peyote in church ceremonies.  Church B was
founded on polygamous principles, but polygamy is either too raunchy or the
church is too new, so forget it.  Church C was founded last week on the
sacrament of continuous cocaine inebriation -- get outta here!  Church D has
been practicing infanticide since time immemorial -- you'll have to get a
permit for that.

The government doesn't have any right to declare that a certain religious
group can get away with something that the rest of us are forbidden to do
(it's that First Amendment thing again).  If peyote is bad for everyone,
nobody should be allowed to use it; if it's good for some people, people
themselves (not the government) should decide whether or not to risk seeking
out the divine in the world of visions.

The drug legalization movement should oppose the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act.  For a change, the Supreme Court was right about something.  It's a shame
that nobody noticed.

-- END --
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,misc.legal