Should a Judge Be Allowed to Mandate Church as a Term of Probation?
Or is that a clear violation of the separation of church and state?
A judge recently sentenced an Oklahoma teen to 10 years probation, the terms of which included regular church attendance, for a manslaughter charge. Tyler Alred, now 17, had been drinking when he crashed a pickup truck on Dec. 3, 2011, according to Tulsa World reports. The accident killed a 16-year-old passenger who was reportedly a friend of Alred. Although not legally drunk, it is reported that because Alred was below the legal drinking age he was still considered to be under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced after pleading guilty, and the terms of probation included the church mandate. Alred, a regular church-goer anyway, reportedly does not object to the probation requirement involving church attendance. However, that …
michael mirra
9:13 pm on Sunday, January 13, 2013
How dare a judge sentence someone in America to religious indoctrination. This is a free country. They can punish someone, but they shouldn't force someone to listen to that against thgeir will. Then they may begin to believe that stuff & begin following the Christian Right agenda of hate & exclusion. Then instead of one type of criminal, they will be doing legal things, but contrary to the real … more ›