Taking a Green Bay break.
While the situation in Green Bay continues to roil, I thought I would clear the pallette and write about something else for a change (don’t worry, I’ll get back to it soon, in the meantime why not check out the discussion on this issue at Get Religion). For instance, an Asatru inmate has filed a lawsuit against the Utah Department of Corrections for allegedly denying him his right to practice his faith.
“Michael Polk, who is serving time for aggravated assault and robbery, filed the lawsuit against corrections officials in federal court, accusing them of denying him several religious items that he claims are necessary to practice the Asatru religion, which worships ancient Nordic gods like Odin, Thor, Tyr and Heimdal … In his lawsuit, Polk said he asked the prison chaplain for the items and was denied them. Corrections officials noted that he checked the box marked “None/Atheist” when he entered the prison. After he appealed, corrections officials allowed Polk to have a wooden Thor’s Hammer pendant. The other items were denied because of security reasons.”
A couple questions arise, first off, did Polk have no choice but to check “none” since there was no box for Asatru? Secondly, while his list of required items seems a bit long (a Thor’s Hammer, a prayer cloth, a Mead Horn used for drinking Wassail, a drum made of wood and boar skin, a rune staff and a (cardboard) sword) are other (more mainstream) faiths allowed similarly long lists of religiously-themed items? Information concerning these details would help greatly in finding out if Polk’s case is merely frivolous or if the prison is truly limiting his religious freedom.
Sadly, instead of answering these questions, the Deseret Morning News decided to talk about vampires instead.
“In Utah, several inmates have filed lawsuits over religion. In 2002, the Utah Court of Appeals denied one inmate’s claims that the prison violated his religious rights by refusing to allow him to drink blood or partake in a sacrament with a ‘vampiress.’”
Not to question the sanctity of religious vampirism, but the reporter seems to have classified this as a “oddball” story instead of a religion story. As such, we get no follow-up and some unrelated trivia. There is a rich history of legal cases involving Asatru, and it’s a shame they couldn’t have been explored here.
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