First Amendment May Be No Shield For Santeria Worshippers
Animal sacrifice for religious purposes may not be unconstitutional and may be protected by the First Amendment, but that doesn’t mean it’s a practice safe from laws aimed at preventing cruelty to animals. If the animal cruelty laws are not purposefully designed to suppress the religion known as Santeria or other religions where animal sacrifice is a ritual, then practitioners may still find themselves answerable to those laws.
For example, a situation noted on the Religion Clause Blog, Santeria worshippers are facing multiple charges over the improper treatment of animals in New York and New Jersey. Perez-Hernandez and his son Louis were charged with violating animal cruelty statutes because, according to a police investigation, the animals died from malnutrition. The two also face charges for unlawfully transporting more than 100 animals from a New Jersey farm without proper documents, the Lower Hudson Journal News reported. Authorities told the newspaper that the two were not being prosecuted because of their planned sacrifice of the animals in a religious ritual, but for violating Agriculture and Market laws that prohibit denying sustenance to the animals. In addition, the two were charged with subverting a town law against harboring farm animals in residential neighborhoods.
In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a number of animal cruelty and health safety ordinances in a Florida town on First Amendment grounds. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the laws were not neutral, but were instead aimed at suppressing the Santeria religion. The faith, originating in the 19th Century, “teaches that every individual has a destiny from God, a destiny fulfilled with the aid and energy of the orishas,” Kennedy wrote. A primary form, the high court noted, of nurturing a personal relationship with the orishas is to sacrifice animals, such as chickens, pigeons, doves, ducks, guinea pigs, goats, sheep and turtles.
Those Florida ordinances were invalidated, because the Court concluded they weren’t really aimed at protecting animals or addressing safety concerns, but were all about suppressing Santeria animal sacrifices. “We conclude, in sum, that each of Hialeah’s ordinances pursues the city’s governmental interests only against conduct motivated by religious belief,” Kennedy wrote for the majority in Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. “The ordinances ‘have every appearance of a prohibition that society is prepared to impose upon [Santeria worshippers], but not upon itself.”
Whether the Santeria worshippers in New York are exempt because of the First Amendment from the multiple animal cruelty and health ordinances has yet to be addressed. The Westchester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told the Journal News that religion was not the issue here. “Provide them [the animals] with the basics, even if you are to sacrifice them, is the proper way to do it,” Ken Ross, chief of the group’s law enforcement unit, said.
Written By:Brutus On August 28, 2008 1:53 PM Written By:rootsnrooted On August 28, 2008 5:15 PM
What's interesting is that in many cases, like the Westchester incident, it's pretty transparent that law enforcement and local government IS trying to use present laws to persecute Santeria worshipers. At least one person involved with the investigation says "he believes that the father and son planned on drinking the blood" of the animals. The statement is inflammatory. When you go to a restaurant and order a steak you are "planning" on drinking blood as well. The vast majority of Santeria sacrifice don't involve consumption of raw blood. But inferring that they do incites public disapproval, which gives police greater flexibility (or so they believe) when it comes to going after such individuals. As for illegal transportation of animals - I see the same thing occurring in the transport of kittens and rabbits. Look in your newspaper in the "animals for sale" section. How the heck do you think people are getting all these animals around? They certainly don't have "proper documents". But that's not the issue. The real issue is whether or not the animals are going to end up being cooked @ KFC or cooked at a Santero's home. (the vast majority of these animals are eaten, not discarded or victimized.) Lastly in Westchester the police called an animal rights group that believes it's own mission trumps religious rights. If this isn't a clear case of 'conflict of interest' what is?
Belief really isn't a reason to kill anything including animals. Life is precious, I dislike the fact that people use religion as an excuse to do many inhumane things, this is just an example of the many possible people could do.
Protecting religion when everything is humane is all well and good, but using any law even one in the bill of rights to conduct things the a multitude of people ( the majority of the population) believes is wrong should not be defended using a one of our fundamental laws. of course that is really up to the interpreters of those laws to decide.
Art Woodrow is the founder of the Democracy Conservator Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving this democracy for future generations, none of this bull would happen if people took our rights and government more seriously. If you are serious about change, then you'll visit his site.
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This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!
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For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.
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This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World! ***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY !
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lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com (424-247-2013)
The constitution and the supreme court protects everyones right to religion and in santeria this includes certain religious sacrifices which should be respected...
Indeed a difficult case. Perhaps the court will rule with a maximum deference to religious freedom.