Who supports a Catholic man from being forcibly converted to teh Pentecostal faith by the state of Michigan?


Read below to see who actually is going to court to reprsent a catholic man against being forcibly converted to the pentecostal faith by the state of Michigan...

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-Lawsuit Seeks Free Expression for Catholic Man Forced to Convert

After exhausting all avenues in the Michigan courts, the ACLU of Michigan today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Catholic man who was criminally punished for not completing a Pentecostal drug rehabilitation program.

"The Michigan courts would not acknowledge this man’s First Amendment rights, but we're confident that the federal court will,” Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director, said. “He was punished for insisting on the right to practice Catholicism and refusing conversion to the Pentecostal faith.”

Twenty-three-year-old Joseph Hanas of Genesee County pled guilty to a charge of marijuana possession in February 2001. He was placed in a “drug court” for non-violent offenders, allowing for a deferred sentence and dismissal of the charges if he successfully completed the Inner City Christian Outreach Residential Program.

Unbeknownst to Hanas when he entered the program, one of the goals of Christian Outreach was to convert him from Catholicism to the Pentecostal faith. He was forced to read the bible for seven hours a day and was told that Catholicism was a form of witchcraft and they confiscated both his rosary and Holy Communion prayer book.

After seven weeks of receiving no drug treatment and being prohibited from attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, Hanas requested placement in a secular drug treatment program. His request was denied. The judge acknowledged that Christian Outreach was a religious program rather than a treatment program because there were no drug or alcohol counselors on staff. Nonetheless, the judge determined that Hanas did not satisfactorily complete the program, removed him from the drug court, convicted him and sentenced him to jail for three months and then to boot camp. It was only after his release from boot camp that he finally received drug treatment at a secular residential rehabilitation program.

“I needed help,” said Hanas. “Instead I was forced to practice someone
else’s religion and I’m still being punished for that.”

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While I do not support all of the goals of the ACLU (namely abortion rights), they do assist those who want to express their faith often. Several years ago, they defended a christian based high school club so they can be guaranteed access to hold their meetings on school grounds after hours. They exist solely to keep america true to what they see as its constitutional basis, often including assisting those of faith.

Senator Allen does not get it that budgets are moral documents

On Wednesday, December 14, many people of faith converged on Capitol Hill for a prayer vigil to remind congress members that budgets are indeed moral documents. The numerous pastors, volunteers, lay ministers and other people of faith were there out of concern for what the budget proposed by the House of Representatives does to programs the poor depend on for daily life.

The House budget proposes substantial decreases for programs like Medicaid, food stamps, temporary housing assistance for the needy and financial aid for college students. The Senate budget proposal still cuts funding for many programs, but nearly as devastating as the House budget.

Members of the two Houses of Congress are meeting in committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate budget proposals. Because of increasing public pressure, the Senate has voted on several motions to “instruct” committee members on what the Senate requires the budget to look like when it is presented for final passage.

Both of our senators from Virginia were present for these votes and voted. One of these motions was to protect Medicaid from cuts, another was to protect food stamps from cuts, and yet a third was to exclude the temporary assistance for needy families from the budget. In all three of these, our senior Senator, John Warner, voted in favor of protecting these programs that enable people to lift themselves out of poverty. In all three, our junior Senator, George Allen, voted to submit these important programs to the chopping block.

John Warner is a friend to most Virginians, Republican, and Democrat, rich, middle class, and poor. Time and time again, George Allen has shown that he is not in favor of protecting the most vulnerable members of our great commonwealth, nor has he shown much wisdom by his being on the wrong side of issues time and time again. Mark Warner has committed himself to not run against Allen in 2006 for the Senate seat. Lets hope the Democrats can find a worthy candidate that will be popular and mainstream enough to toss Allen out of the Senate, back to his rich family and affluent friends, who he is obviously most comfortable representing.