Atheist Missouri Prisoner Loses Bid To Represent Inmates Who Don't Believe In God

[rug]

By Dan Margolies • May 11, 2015

A Missouri inmate who says he was denied parole because, as an atheist, he refused to participate in faith-based substance abuse programs has lost Round 2 of his fight against prison authorities.

Randall Jackson, who was convicted of offenses related to driving while intoxicated, claims prison officials unlawfully conditioned his parole on his attendance in Alcoholics Anonymous, which requires participants to recognize and rely on a “higher power.”

In April 2012, U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr. dismissed the class-action lawsuit Jackson had filed on behalf of other atheist inmates, but last year the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it.

The appeals court ruled that, while inmates had no constitutional right to early parole, the requirement that Jackson attend a program with religious content violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

http://kcur.org/post/atheist-missouri-prisoner-loses-bid-represent-inmates-who-dont-believe-god

[cbayer]

1. He can't use the pew data, because as we all now, the percentage of atheists in prison

is far lower than the percentage in the general population.

Surely he knew that.

[rug]

2. He must have gotten lost.

[Shrike47]

3. On a serious side, he hasn't attempted to find out how many agnostics would go to AA anyway.

I would.

[cbayer]

4. Another good point.

While some non-believers object to AA, others have found that the higher power concept has meaning for them. It just doesn't mean god.

And there are non-religious AA meetings available in many communities.

He's going to have a hard time proving he represents a class.