ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605130109
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically and unexpectedly reversed three decades of precedent in religious freedom cases.
Before the decision in Employment Division vs. Smith, the courts had held that government could not enforce laws that infringe on a person's religious freedom unless a "compelling governmental interest'' to do so could be shown.
The Smith decision changed that standard, ruling that as long as a law was passed for a general purpose and was not specifically aimed at limiting religious practices, it would be considered constitutional.
Using Smith, for example, courts ruled that autopsies could be performed in violation of families' religious beliefs, and a Catholic hospital lost its accreditation because it refused to perform abortions.
In passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Congress re-established through legislation what the court had taken away judicially.
In a rare alliance, nearly every religious and civil liberties group in the country lined up behind the act when it was passed in 1993 - Catholics, evangelicals, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews and groups such as the liberal People For the American Way and the ACLU.
Prison officials were one of the few groups to voice objection to the law, concerned about its impact in penitentiaries. Prisoner cases were one of the sticking points of the act when Congress passed it, but an amendment that would have exempted prisoners was voted down.
And the overwhelming majority of lawsuits brought under the act have been by prisoners. The Virginia inmates suing for a sweat lodge are using the law in an attempt to dictate how the state runs its prisons, the attorney general's office says.
The inmates' suit promotes "a very dangerous mindset," the state says. "Their position appears to be that they can embrace any faith on any given day and that each transmogrification must be accorded complete and utter acceptance by prison officials."
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