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

  1. #1

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

    http://america.aljazeera.com/article...ettlement.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?
    1776 > 1984

    The FAILURE of the United States Government to operate and maintain an
    Honest Money System , which frees the ordinary man from the clutches of the money manipulators, is the single largest contributing factor to the World's current Economic Crisis.

    The Elimination of Privacy is the Architecture of Genocide

    Belief, Money, and Violence are the three ways all people are controlled

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  3. #2
    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

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by trey4sports View Post
    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.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  5. #4
    "One thing my years in Washington taught me is that most politicians are followers, not leaders. Therefore we should not waste time and resources trying to educate politicians. Politicians will not support individual liberty and limited government unless and until they are forced to do so by the people," says Ron Paul."

  6. #5
    War on Drugs just made another millionaire
    There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
    -Major General Smedley Butler, USMC,
    Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Winner
    Author of, War is a Racket!

    It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.
    - Diogenes of Sinope

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by trey4sports View Post
    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.

  8. #7
    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?
    "One thing my years in Washington taught me is that most politicians are followers, not leaders. Therefore we should not waste time and resources trying to educate politicians. Politicians will not support individual liberty and limited government unless and until they are forced to do so by the people," says Ron Paul."

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ZENemy View Post
    No, then let me rephrase that...

    Quote Originally Posted by acptulsa
    Liberty works best not because liberty is without responsibility, but because responsibility is part of the deal. Capitalism works best not because capitalists love us and want us to be happy, but because the more government you have, the more government they can buy, and if they have no government to buy then all they can do instead is compete--compete to serve us better.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul
    (╯°□°)╯︵ ʇɔɐ ʇoıɹʇɐd
    I heart BTC! - 1AesnP1c7wyjzJhaKZajkixo9tthZRQzjB



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  11. #9
    There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
    -Major General Smedley Butler, USMC,
    Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Winner
    Author of, War is a Racket!

    It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.
    - Diogenes of Sinope

  12. #10
    "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!"
    Quote Originally Posted by Sister Miriam Godwinson View Post
    We Must Dissent.

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by trey4sports View Post
    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.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  14. #12
    proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    proof that liberal atheists are scum and waste taxpayer money
    They should be hunted for sport "The Most Dangerous Game" style.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sister Miriam Godwinson View Post
    We Must Dissent.

  16. #14
    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.

    'We endorse the idea of voluntarism; self-responsibility: Family, friends, and churches to solve problems, rather than saying that some monolithic government is going to make you take care of yourself and be a better person. It's a preposterous notion: It never worked, it never will. The government can't make you a better person; it can't make you follow good habits.' - Ron Paul 1988

    Awareness is the Root of Liberation Revolution is Action upon Revelation

    'Resistance and Disobedience in Economic Activity is the Most Moral Human Action Possible' - SEK3

    Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

    ...the familiar ritual of institutional self-absolution...
    ...for protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment...


  17. #15
    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.

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by FreedomFanatic View Post
    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.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sister Miriam Godwinson View Post
    We Must Dissent.



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  20. #17
    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.

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    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?

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Traditional Conservative View Post
    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.

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by presence View Post
    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?

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by NIU Students for Liberty View Post
    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.

  25. #22
    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...

  26. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by NIU Students for Liberty View Post
    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.

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    and cannabalism, child molestation isn't?
    Troll?

    Idiot?

    I can no longer tell.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.



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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    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?

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    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.
    Quote Originally Posted by TheCount View Post
    ...I believe that when the government is capable of doing a thing, it will.
    Quote Originally Posted by Influenza View Post
    which one of yall fuckers wrote the "ron paul" racist news letters
    Quote Originally Posted by Dforkus View Post
    Zippy's posts are a great contribution.




    Disrupt, Deny, Deflate. Read the RPF trolls' playbook here (post #3): http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...eptive-members

  31. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    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.
    Quote Originally Posted by TheCount View Post
    ...I believe that when the government is capable of doing a thing, it will.
    Quote Originally Posted by Influenza View Post
    which one of yall fuckers wrote the "ron paul" racist news letters
    Quote Originally Posted by Dforkus View Post
    Zippy's posts are a great contribution.




    Disrupt, Deny, Deflate. Read the RPF trolls' playbook here (post #3): http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...eptive-members

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by NorthCarolinaLiberty View Post
    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.

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by NorthCarolinaLiberty View Post
    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.

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    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.
    Quote Originally Posted by TheCount View Post
    ...I believe that when the government is capable of doing a thing, it will.
    Quote Originally Posted by Influenza View Post
    which one of yall fuckers wrote the "ron paul" racist news letters
    Quote Originally Posted by Dforkus View Post
    Zippy's posts are a great contribution.




    Disrupt, Deny, Deflate. Read the RPF trolls' playbook here (post #3): http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...eptive-members

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