Why You're Affected by McCollum v. CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Patrick McCollum and legal advisors released a nine page response to the denial of their employment discrimination case.

“The employment discrimination ruling is especially disturbing and is one that all religious people should be worried about, not only Pagans. It creates precedent that gives the state the power to discriminate on the basis of religion for chaplain jobs, for example chaplains in prisons, hospitals, the veterans’ administration, and the military. The court ruled that the state could choose to prefer some religions over others, even when (as the defendants in my case admitted and the court noted) those religions are chosen for no reason at all – are not based on any criteria.” Thanks to Jason of the Wild Hunt blog for making the document available in PDF. wildhunt.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/PatricksStmtFinal.pdf

For more information about Patrick McCullum and his humanitarian foundation visit www.patrickmccollum.org

Read various court briefs here. sites.google.com/site/patrickmccollumappeal/

T. Thorn Coyle, author and teacher, is from the San Francisco Bay area. She has several posts explaining the situation and her letter to California officials at her blog Know Thyself. http://www.thorncoyle.com/tag/patrick-mccollum/

In a February post she wrote, “This is a fight for all of us in the US. As a federal case, those outside of California can also make your voices heard. If California prevails in saying that only Christians deserve religious rights and freedom, we can be assured that similar efforts will be made in other states.”

I’ll clarify that since the case was denied, California has won their argument that they can ignore the needs of Pagan prisoners because they follow a “5 Faiths System” Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
and Native Americans.

I encourage you to write a well thought out and courteous letter. California has a different attorney general since the case began.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris.
California Department of Justice
Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550

Secretary of the California Dept. of Corrections.
Matthew Cate
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
P.O. Box 942883
Sacramento, CA 94283-0001