A federal court has decided that Christian Identity be recognized as an official religion in the Michigan state prison system.
Lawyers for two inmates in the Michigan Department of Corrections successfully argued that their clients’ religious beliefs should be welcomed like other faith philosophies, despite organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center identifying them as hate groups that believe ontologically white people are God’s chosen people.
The opinion rendered on Monday, June 26, was based on a case filed in 2013 by James Harrison Fox and Scott David Perreault. Their attorneys argued before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, Judge Richard Allen Griffin, and Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch in April 2023, the merits of their faith, Christian Identity being acknowledged as an actual religion, according to court documents obtained by Atlanta Black Star.
Fox and Perreault said the prison officials would not let them worship or conduct bible study by themselves or have special dietary options that aligned with the principles of Christian Identity.
“If something is deemed a legitimate religion, entity, then any action taken by the government against that religion must survive what we call a strict scrutiny analysis,” attorney Sarissa K. Montague said to FOX 17.
The plaintiff’s lawyer said the government restricted her clients’ access to religious freedoms because it did not believe in the tenets of the faith.
“Essentially, the MDOC took an all-or-nothing approach. … They basically said we find this religion to be very dangerous, and they didn’t present any options for allowing that religion to conduct its services,” Montague said, adding, “They simply said, ‘you can’t do anything,’ and the courts found that you can’t do that. You have to provide, or at least give reasons, for why do you think that these actions shouldn’t be…
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