ok serious question no harm intended dealing with constitutional rights for cultures and religion?

Question

witchcraft is considered a religion...now if a cerimony called for sum kind harm towards sum living being is that eligal?

and in some cultures it custom to eat curtian demestic animals if they did that here in the us is that eligal?

cutian drugs also with cultures...can they do those here?

in our constition it say people can follow there own cultures and religions if thats the case do these people get curtian rights that american/christians dont?


once agian no harm intended not trying affend any one

few family members are wiccan which i know is still different
yes i am white but no harm towards other races i swear

yes i know about the wiccan religion...i said that so people understand im not trying to pick on any type of culture

once agian this wasnt aimed at the wiccan religion...it was aimed toward any spititual activities and cultures

Answer 1

first off. most Pagans today do not sacrifice animals of humans.
However Animal sacrifice is protected under the rights of religion laws. (it must however be done in a humane way)
an example of this was when Fidel Castro fell sick last year, the Creole and Hatian refugees were sacrificing birds left and fight trying to speed his death.

we do have laws that govern what animals are food, and what ones are pets. in general you cannot raise and eat any animal that was intended to be a pet for food purposes.

certain druds such as Peyote. have a long history of spiritual signifigance. and thus are allowed to be used under the direction of the people that have spiritual connection with them. for the average joe in the street Peyote is an illegal substence. but for the Native Americans it is a spiritual thing and is allowed to be used as such. (weed is not legal because it has no historical spiritual uses)

the constitution says that you can follow your culture and religion. but you are still subject to our laws. in rare cases (such as peyote) exceptions are made for people that have a circumstance that is a proven valid spiritual need for them. but is otherwise banned by our laws.

however as a christian, you should not care what drugs i take for my spiritual beliefs. these are not your beliefs. we do not take Salvia (which is legal) or Peyote for recreation. we take it because we believe that it aids us in our quest for spiritual enlightenment.

Answer 2

I think you are referring to the First Amendment to the Constitution, which says "Congress shall honor no establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise therof."

That clause basically says that the Federal Government cannot establish a state church (IE pick Catholicism, or Baha'i, or Islam, or Wicca as the official religion of our country). The Feds also cannot forbid anybody to pray to any particular deity at any time, or forbid peaceable religious practices.

There ARE limits to the second part of that clause. Murdering other humans is not allowed, even if it is called for in any person's religion. Forbidden, also, is child abuse and criminal sexual behaviour. We have seen the Federal government affect one religious group's idea of "lawful marriage" in the last 100 years (the Mormons changed their doctrine about bigamy rather than tangle with the Feds). Where people want to sacrifice an animal to their god (and eat it, common practice with sacrificial animals), that is allowed--in certain places. (It would be obviously uncomfortable- for some residents-to have livestock brought into a condominium for slaughter and a communal meal.) The Feds can dictate what chemical substances can be held, prescribed, and used by certain people, or not, regardless of religion.

The Federal government retains some rights for the state, delineating what activities are allowed in their own society. People wishing to come to this country and JOIN this society, do so with that understanding (or should).

These understandings, workings, etc. should be the same for all people of all religions, not just Christians. At least, in the USA.

Answer 3

There are rules on how animals should be killed in this country, so I'm guessing those still apply to religious rituals. However, there's no law saying you can't kill animals for religious reasons (unless it was an endangered species). I know of no witch that kills animals as a part of his or her practices.

People are allowed to eat what they want. You might not be able to serve dog in a restaurant, but I believe you can eat it in the privacy of your own home, so long as you don't break laws in the killing of the animal (such as a slow and cruel death)

Drug use for religious reasons is allowed on a limited basis in the United States. The most well known is the use of peyote by some Native Americans. Normally use of peyote is illegal, but it can be used in religious NA ceremonies so long as certain guidelines are followed.

In general, people have a right to worship and believe as they want. However, one person's right to religion cannot trample other people's rights. I do not believe that any group is getting more rights than Americans or Christians. For example, if a Christian wants to attend a NA ceremony (and the NA group will allow them in!) and ingest peyote and follow all the rules the NA follow, then they are allowed to have peyote.

Answer 4

I am not a Wiccan, but I recently read in a military news letter that Wiccan is now recognized as a religion, and as such can have their symbol on the headstone at National Cemeteries. The Jews have the Star of David, there is a Crucifix for Catholics and a plain Cross for Protestants. I am sure there were others, but I remember that the Wiccan had taken the right to have a Hexagram on their headstones to court and won.

Answer 5

Well, this has been building for a while, and truth be told, we cannot know the implications of some of these acts. We can extrapolate, we can make some assumptions, but we know scant little about what the government is actually attempting to do by passing either of these. I'm not happy with the implications myself, and it's part of the reasons I find myself taking part in the debate community as a whole. However, if the government tries to pursue some of these avenues to the extent you're talking about, they risk bringing this into federal courts for freedom of speech issues, especially with things like YouTube. You're talking about censoring a form of media that has, literally, remained almost completely unregulated in this country since its inception. We can regulate some aspects of it, but they tend to have to do with other laws that simply coincide with it. In this case, there's uncertainty as to the legality of many of these acts. I'm not saying this isn't possible - what you're saying could happen, the language is there. What I'm most worried about is how future presidents decide to use these same laws, which is completely uncertain. Still, it's not cut and dry how this is going to play out. There are some issues that are directly dealt with in the legislation, roadblocks that will make it much more difficult to pursue the kinds of actions you're talking about, and though future presidents may try to take them out, we can be at least somewhat secure in the fact that pursuing this kind of action would cost the federal government too much to take to the full extent.

Answer 6

Witchcraft is not considered a religion.

Wicca is. Ritual animal sacrifice has no part in Wicca, and in fact is a violation of the core ethical statement of Wicca.

Witchcraft is using a tool. Wicca is following a spiritual path - of which witchcraft is a part.

In response to the rest of your question, yes. In the US, followers of a religion that requires ritual animal sacrifice (Santeria, for example) have had the right to do so upheld by the US Judicial System, subject to certain conditions.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/santeri1.htm

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc,. et al. v. City of Hialeah

It has also been determined that in some cases, drug use as part of religious ritual is protected by the Constitution:

http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/news/guerrero_release.htm

People v. Guerrero

Answer 7

it is legal to eat domestic animals, no matter what religion you are. Animal torture, depending on the animal, is illegal, however. I don't think you could get exempt from this even if it is part fo a religion. As for harming a human, it would be illegal no matter what if it is against their will. If not, they are allowed to harm themselves to a certain extent, but not allowed to kill themselves. Yes, some native american and other religions involve the use of illicit hallucinogenic substances and marijuana, and if taken to court, the members of that religion may be able to use the drugs during religious ceremonies.

Answer 8

Constitutionally, freedom of religion has more to do with people choosing their own faith instead of the government establishing an official church (like in England where we ran from). Religion, at best, should enhance better society and contribute to it. At worst, have no effect, or no negative effects.

Religion that violates laws and undermines the common good is not what the framers of our Constitution had in mind.

(OBTW there is spell check available.)

Answer 9

I do believe that as Americans, we all have the same rights and also the same punishments if we break laws regardless of our religion. If certain religions call for illegal acts, then performing those religious acts are illegal and call for punishments. Yes we have freedom of religion in this country, but not if doing so causes one to do acts that are against the law!

Answer 10

Wiccans do not believe in causing harm to anyone, so this would not be an issue.