String of rulings puts Colorado at center of religious freedom court cases
Plus the state's unique legacy as a place for religious diversity
Just since we began Have Faith, Colorado earlier this summer, the newsletter has already featured a number of religious freedom court cases in the state, and this week brings even more. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals released three decisions over the past week having to do with the religious liberties of people in the criminal justice system.
As Deseret News editor Kelsey Dallas said on twitter, “Colorado is the epicenter of religious freedom news these days.” We’re inclined to agree.
Last Friday, the 10th Circuit ruled that the First Amendment rights of a parolee were violated when he was sent back to jail after refusing to take part in religious services and counseling prescribed by his parole officer. According to a news release from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which litigated the case along with the American Civil Liberties Union:
“When Mark Janny was on parole in February 2015, Colorado Department of Corrections Parole Officer John Gamez required him to live at the Denver Rescue Mission, a Christian homeless shelter that offers religious programming for parolees and other residents. Gamez had an arrangement with the Mission’s director to place parolees there, with the understanding that they would take part in compulsory religious worship and practice.
Janny, an atheist, objected to the mandatory worship services, Bible studies, and religious counseling, and he asked to be excused from religious programming or to be permitted to live elsewhere. Gamez and the Mission’s staff refused Janny’s request, threatening him with reimprisonment if he did not continue living at the Mission and did not agree to participate in the required religious activities. When Janny ultimately declined to attend worship services, Gamez revoked his parole, and Janny was jailed for another five months.”
Janny filed a lawsuit in federal court and lost, the 10th Circuit has now overturned that decision.
The 10th Circuit also reinstated the lawsuit of a Muslim inmate who was forced to shave his beard by a correctional officer, despite a policy that beards are allowed as a form of religious expression. And it dismissed the lawsuit of a Messianic Jewish inmate who sued a chaplain for denying his request for a kosher diet.
Why so many recent religious freedom lawsuits? In his story on the Muslim inmate case, Michael Karlik at Colorado Politics writes:
“The Tuesday decision marks a curious trend in Colorado of religious freedom rulings handed down from the 10th Circuit. (Tajuddin) Ashaheed's case is the fourth in little over two weeks to address infringements upon the free exercise of religion or religious-based discrimination. A total of 11 appellate judges have sat on panels deciding the cases.
‘I see it as a spurt. Sometimes you toss a coin and you get six heads in a row,’ said Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment professor at the UCLA School of Law.
But Andy McNulty, one of Ashaheed's lawyers, called the collection of rulings a ‘strong statement by the 10th Circuit that the Free Exercise Clause is not something to be tossed away, even in the prison context.’”
A place for “religious freedom and religious experimentation”
For Muslims in Colorado, it’s not a quick drive to major Islamic hubs such as Dallas, Los Angeles or Chicago, described Imam Shemsadeen Ben-Masaud. That has been difficult for Ben-Masaud, director of student affairs at Crescent View Academy in Aurora, who has lived his whole life in Colorado, where the Muslim community has been relatively small only until recently.
“We really are isolated, geographically,” Ben-Masaud told Liam for a recent article. “We grew up thinking, ‘why are we here, why don’t we live in California?’ But now everybody is coming here and there’s now like, okay there’s attention on us, there is more people with experience coming in.”
Ben-Masaud’s description of the Colorado Islamic community, versus other cities in the U.S., is true of many other religious groups in the state. Carl Raschke, professor of religious studies at the University of Denver, said, “Colorado is a lot harder place than other parts of the country to figure out or get an actual profile out of.”
Liam’s recent article for Colorado Community Media about religious diversity was specifically about the Denver metro region, but the insight that Raschke, Ben-Masaud, and others shared is true of the rest of Colorado.
Raschke said, “Historically, Colorado has been a place for religious freedom and religious experimentation.”
One example Raschke noted was an influx of “religious nonconformists” in the 1980s and 1990s, a term he used to refer to those who embraced New Age beliefs and those who were in cults. He was interviewed for a New York Times Magazine story in 1988, he said, titled, “Colorado’s thriving cults.” Raschke said, “I jokingly referred to it as Cultorado.”
Another point Raschke made is that even though Colorado Springs has been well-known for its evangelical Christianity, that technically has been a recent phenomenon. The growth of evangelical churches and parachurch organizations really happened in the 1990s.
The thing about Colorado’s religion, and population overall, is that migration has a major influence. Elizabeth Garner, state demographer with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs told Liam that in Colorado “…migration has a larger influence than birth.” To add to that, Raschke said, “Basically, people that come to Colorado are bringing their religion with them.”
Briefly noted
Kaiser Health News and the Aurora Sentinel wrote about efforts to vaccinate people along the Colfax corridor. “We have several pastors that have just said, ‘This is evil, and we’re not going to do it,’” Village Exchange Center director Amanda Blaurock said. “And we respect that. We don’t go around decisions that community members have made. We just say, ‘We’re hosting it, and if you want it, we’re trying to make it as accessible as possible.’”
Together Colorado, an interfaith community organization, held a prayer vigil in front of U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper’s office in Washington D.C. to call for immigration reform. Together Colorado’s work around immigration was also highlighted by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.
The Benson Center at CU Boulder (formerly named the Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy) has appointed its first sabbatical scholar, David McPherson. While at CU, McPherson will be working on a book project called Spiritual Alienation and the Quest for God.
An analysis by researchers at the University of California determined that Colorado Springs is one of two cities to be “integrated” among 113 examined. In a Colorado Sun story, faith leaders from the Springs chimed in. “If you live in this community, you don’t get a sense that it’s an integrated community,” said Susan Bolduc, a member of the Colorado Springs Faith Table.
“Have Faith, Colorado” is a weekly roundup and analysis of local religion articles in the Centennial State. It’s by Liam Adams and Carina Julig. Liam covers local news for Colorado Community Media and religion news as a freelancer. Carina covers education and other Aurora news at the Sentinel Colorado. To connect with us about the newsletter please email liamadams.journalism@gmail.com and carina.julig@colorado.edu, and follow us on twitter at @liamsadams and @CarinaJulig.