Atheist Jailed for Denying ‘Higher Power’ in Calif. Drug Rehab Awarded $2M

[DamianTV]

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/15/atheist-drug-treatmentsettlement.html

(Yeah, Al Jazeera...)


An atheist in Northern California has been awarded nearly $2 million in a settlement with the state and a nonprofit drug rehab organization for violating his religious liberty by sending him to jail for refusing to submit to a “higher power” as part of a treatment program, local news outlets reported.

After serving a year behind bars for methamphetamine possession, 46-year-old Barry Hazle Jr. of Shasta County was ordered to participate in a residential drug treatment program.

When he arrived at the Empire Recovery Center in Redding, Calif., the atheist was told that the center’s 12-step program, which was modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous, involved submitting to a “higher power” through prayer, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Tuesday.

When Hazle balked and asked about secular drug rehab, he was told that Empire was the only state-approved facility in Shasta County — and that it wasn’t picky about whom that higher power should be — the Chronicle said.

“They told me, ‘anything can be your higher power. Fake it till you make it,’” he told the newspaper.

But when Hazle still objected — the program included prayer and references to God, according to the Redding Record Searchlight — he was sent to jail at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco for more than 100 days. Probation officials said they did so because Hazle was allegedly being "disruptive, though in a congenial way, to the staff as well as other students ... sort of passive-aggressive,” the Searchlight said.

...

(Continues on Link)

You cant complete Drug Rehab unless you believe in the God you are TOLD to believe in? Is this about Religion or is it about OBEDIENCE and thinking what you are told to think, mundane?

[trey4sports]

this was basically a low-life scumbag trying to weazle out of rehab. Just shut your mouth, pray to aquabuddha if you must and get sober. This guy shouldn't have been awarded $2,000,000

[dannno]

this was basically a low-life scumbag trying to weazle out of rehab. Just shut your mouth, pray to aquabuddha if you must and get sober. This guy shouldn't have been awarded $2,000,000

He shouldn't have been kidnapped or imprisoned either, the people who did that are much bigger scumbags.

[ZENemy]

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Excuse+me+sir+oh+magic+light+bulb+what+are+your_9c 6aed_4708884.jpg

[jllundqu]

War on Drugs just made another millionaire

[JK/SEA]

this was basically a low-life scumbag trying to weazle out of rehab. Just shut your mouth, pray to aquabuddha if you must and get sober. This guy shouldn't have been awarded $2,000,000

i agree...it should have been 200 million.

[ZENemy]

Do you have to pay tax on a settlement from "the state" ?

If so, you would be paying tax, on the tax that taxed you from the get go............wait what?

[evilfunnystuff]

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Excuse+me+sir+oh+magic+light+bulb+what+are+your_9c 6aed_4708884.jpg

No, then let me rephrase that...

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Cthulhu_a9cf85_4966667.jpg

[jllundqu]

http://odesk.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Funny618.jpg

[Spikender]

"Okay sir, if you don't have a God to pray to, then I have a deity for you to worship... THE STATE. GET ON YOUR KNEES AND CLASP THOSE HANDS, BITCH!"

[dannno]

this was basically a low-life scumbag trying to weazle out of rehab. Just shut your mouth, pray to aquabuddha if you must and get sober. This guy shouldn't have been awarded $2,000,000

You are worried about an adult 'weaseling' out of rehab for amphetamines in the mean time children are being prescribed amphetamines by big pharma on a daily basis to treat ADD.

[PRB]

proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money

[Spikender]

proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money

They should be hunted for sport "The Most Dangerous Game" style.

[presence]

After serving a year behind bars for methamphetamine possession


Right there. That's the problem. Man needs another $2M for false imprisonment.


Drug use and possession is a Constitutionally protected religious freedom.

[Christian Liberty]

And of course the thread devolves into a mini-fight between pro and anti-religion people. Dannuo is the only one who came to the correct answer (as far as I can tell). The real scumbags are neither the rehab program or this man, it is the people who kidnapped someone for doing drugs in the first place. Shame on government and police once again.

[Spikender]

And of course the thread devolves into a mini-fight between pro and anti-religion people. Dannuo is the only one who came to the correct answer (as far as I can tell). The real scumbags are neither the rehab program or this man, it is the people who kidnapped someone for doing drugs in the first place. Shame on government and police once again.

The rehab program was complicit. They even told him to fake religious believe in a higher deity. Even Dannno said that the people who kidnapped were bigger scumbags, not that the rehab clinic was squeaky clean.

There's wrong all over the place with this story and it finely illustrates the sort of things that happens every single day in this country. What they told him at the rehab clinic reminds me of what they told one of my coworkers when he was doing minor yard work on the side while collecting unemployment between jobs: "You can't do work on the side, that counts as holding a job. How about you just stop working and just collect your checks, m'kay?" And the dude was telling them that he was doing the side work for income. It's not like he hid it. They just wanted him to either stop trying to find work or not tell them and lie about the yard work.

They just want to shuffle you through the system and reward lying about religious belief and lying about your income, and saying that all the blame lies with the Government and Enforcement Piggies would be doing a great disservice to this man.

[Brett85]

I have to agree with the outcome of the case, although 2 million seems like a little too much. But I often talk about religious liberty here on this forum and defend the right of Christians and other people of faith to practice their religion, and I think it's equally important that the government never force anyone to practice any religion.

[NIU Students for Liberty]

proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money

So because the guy was legally forced to enter a rehab program, somehow HE'S the tax parasite and not the government who instituted the war on drugs in the first place?

[NIU Students for Liberty]

I have to agree with the outcome of the case, although 2 million seems like a little too much. But I often talk about religious liberty here on this forum and defend the right of Christians and other people of faith to practice their religion, and I think it's equally important that the government never force anyone to practice any religion.

Granted the $2 million was awarded because of his conflict with the rehab program but considering that he was already forced to serve a year in prison for a victimless crime, the settlement should have been more than $2 million.

[PRB]

Right there. That's the problem. Man needs another $2M for false imprisonment.


Drug use and possession is a Constitutionally protected religious freedom.

and cannabalism, child molestation isn't?

[Brett85]

Granted the $2 million was awarded because of his conflict with the rehab program but considering that he was already forced to serve a year in prison for a victimless crime, the settlement should have been more than $2 million.

Shoot, I think I would agree to serve a year in prison if I could get 2 million dollars when I got out. :)

[fr33]

I still want a pound of flesh for the 2 pounds of flesh I lost for being arrested for marijuana. They better hope I never get diagnosed with terminal cancer...

[PRB]

So because the guy was legally forced to enter a rehab program, somehow HE'S the tax parasite and not the government who instituted the war on drugs in the first place?

we wasn't singled out to be in either prison or rehab, so being the only person who made a fuss of it, yes.

[osan]

and cannabalism, child molestation isn't?

Troll?

Idiot?

I can no longer tell.

[PRB]

Troll?

Idiot?

I can no longer tell.

Why does it have to be either?

Where is the victim in cannabalism? And what is wrong with child molestation other than the arbitrary government rule which sets age of consent?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money


But you're liberal. And you have a troll affiliation on this board with the Anti Defamation League. Guess you're not atheist, huh.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Why does it have to be either?

Where is the victim in cannabalism? And what is wrong with child molestation other than the arbitrary government rule which sets age of consent?


You better check your sock puppet account called MaybeMaybeNot. It's rep bar just turned red. If you're going to make pro Israel threads, then you know that a red bar probably lowers your credibility.

[PRB]

You better check your sock puppet account called MaybeMaybeNot. It's rep bar just turned red. If you're going to make pro Israel threads, then you know that a red bar probably lowers your credibility.

not my account, don't care. if I ever do run into threads that he/she posted in, I'll probably neg rep too.

[PRB]

But you're liberal. And you have a troll affiliation on this board with the Anti Defamation League. Guess you're not atheist, huh.

reverse everything you say and you just might get the facts straight.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

reverse everything you say and you just might get the facts straight.


So you've been on this board one year making liberal posts. Has anything here rubbed off on you? Just wondering. I'd think some issue might have changed your liberal thinking. Anything at all? Must be something.

[PRB]

So you've been on this board one year making liberal posts.


Show me one.



Has anything here rubbed off on you? Just wondering.


Yes, just not the conspiracy ones about vaccines, chemtrails, or global warming.



I'd think some issue might have changed your liberal thinking. Anything at all? Must be something.

I don't mark exact dates as to when my views changed, but it's possible some of my views have changed for the time I've posted here. I don't identify as a liberal, I don't know why you keep saying that.

[DamianTV]

proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money

Subjective Conclusion is Subjective.

You completely missed the point of the article. #1 Religious Freedom. You are free to worship the religion you are told to worship. That is NOT Freedom. #2 Atheists are not scum because they are Atheists. Many can act like scum, but so can many religious people too. #3 Waste Taxpayer Money is completely false. It is the STATES fault that the man was not free A) to worship or not worship as he sees fit and B) do onto himself as he sees fit (drugs). It is the people who endorse the failed War on Drugs are the real threat. And while they continue to point their fingers at drug users as validation of continued prohibition, people continue to fall for it, hook line and sinker. The only freedom this post promotes is the Freedom to hate Atheists, which promotes violence. They will be the Jews of the 21st century.

-Rep for promoting hate and violence with no peacable solutions.

Peacable Solution: End the War on Drugs. We should ALL know that damn good and well. Religion as applied to the case of the article is an excuse to take money. Who do you think paid for his rehab? The state? Ha! How about the settlement? The State? Every time someone mentions "THE STATE", it is coming out of YOUR pocket, because he never should have gone to jail to begin with if only for drug use, which also comes out of YOUR pocket. (Defintion of "your" applying to all of us, not just the quoted poster, PRB)

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I don't identify as a liberal,

How do you identify? Libertarian? Republican? You said you voted Ron Paul twice.

[Spikender]

How do you identify? Libertarian? Republican? You said you voted Ron Paul twice.

"Libertine".

[presence]

and cannabalism, child molestation isn't?

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wD6uDzzymH0/0.jpg

[PRB]

"Libertine".

Sounds about right, libertine, or anarchist or libertarian.

[PRB]

Subjective Conclusion is Subjective.

You completely missed the point of the article. #1 Religious Freedom. You are free to worship the religion you are told to worship. That is NOT Freedom. #2 Atheists are not scum because they are Atheists. Many can act like scum, but so can many religious people too. #3 Waste Taxpayer Money is completely false. It is the STATES fault that the man was not free A) to worship or not worship as he sees fit and B) do onto himself as he sees fit (drugs). It is the people who endorse the failed War on Drugs are the real threat. And while they continue to point their fingers at drug users as validation of continued prohibition, people continue to fall for it, hook line and sinker. The only freedom this post promotes is the Freedom to hate Atheists, which promotes violence. They will be the Jews of the 21st century.

-Rep for promoting hate and violence with no peacable solutions.

Peacable Solution: End the War on Drugs. We should ALL know that damn good and well. Religion as applied to the case of the article is an excuse to take money. Who do you think paid for his rehab? The state? Ha! How about the settlement? The State? Every time someone mentions "THE STATE", it is coming out of YOUR pocket, because he never should have gone to jail to begin with if only for drug use, which also comes out of YOUR pocket. (Defintion of "your" applying to all of us, not just the quoted poster, PRB)

hating atheists promotes violence? LOL

[jmdrake]

and cannabalism, child molestation isn't?

Trollin trollin trollin.....keep those posts a flowin....act like you be knowin....troll onnnnn....