What's going on, Albuquerque?

Non-Christian Religious Faith and Crime

The Constitution of the United States of America

Amendment 1 [1791]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

Profound words from our founding fathers and guidelines to live by that would solve a lot of issues of social injustice if just followed.

Yesterday a woman who was accused of killing a man she accused of trying to sexually assault her was attacked in the conservative press because of herself proclaimed religious views.

The local city press did not take the time to understand how this person’s religion should have played into this crime or if it had any roll at all. Why the city police released information about the crime before they understood all the facts in the case is beyond understanding and plays into their own religious biases and fears.

Clearly they have no knowledge of this religion. If this had been a religion such as Muslim they would have attempted to be more sensitive to local religious groups before reporting any connection. The word witch invokes a primal fear in this city from Christians.

Should it matter what her religion was or if the knife she used to attack that man was also used in her supposed religious practice. Did the fact that this woman practiced a non-Christian religion play into the way she was treated by police or should it have had any effect on this case?

Our city should be proud of its diversity when it comes to accepting people from all religious backgrounds be it Christian or Non-Christian and not cause unneeded fear for any one group just because a word that invokes fear is used in the press wrongly.

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Comment by Lauren on March 26, 2010 at 9:23pm: In what conservative press was she attacked for her religion? I didn't know there WAS a conservative press in ABQ. The only paper I can find here is that liberal rag, the ABQ Journal.

Comment by slamwagon on March 30, 2010 at 3:42pm: The Journal is Liberal in your view? Geez. I always pegged it as a Conservative Sprawl Rag. lol

Comment by Phil_0 on March 30, 2010 at 4:13pm: Agreed...unless you're comparing it to scarlet letters and witch-burning, it's hard to see how you could view the Journal as "liberal"...

Comment by Mary Jane Collins on March 30, 2010 at 4:21pm: Come on guys be nice. The Journal is our only newspaper here is the city. It is owned by a man who is very proud of being conservative and he controls it very closely. To call it a Liberal rag is not nice to the values he holds dear.

Comment by Lauren on March 30, 2010 at 6:13pm: But to me it IS a liberal rag. I still read it, just like I still read the OC Register, LA times and WSJ.

Comment by Rob Creighton Garrison on April 2, 2010 at 10:42am: If it doesn't run Doonesbury, it's too conservative in my book!

*sniff!* I miss my Doonesbury...

Comment by Rob Creighton Garrison on April 2, 2010 at 4:00pm: Bloom County was great too. Goodnight, Opus.

Comment by Granjero on April 6, 2010 at 2:44pm: Wasn't it the local Wiccans who denounced her? Not so much the Christians....

Comment by Mary Jane Collins on April 7, 2010 at 1:20pm: You are right that the Wicca community denounced that woman very quickly. They feared that the public would equate her violent behavior with their religion and thus cause fear and anger toward them.

That woman’s claims were also clearly based on a misguided attempt at witchcraft and her lack of knowledge showed. Like most religions The Wicca have a very solid set of rules they follow and not just anyone can call themselves witches until they are trained in the culture and or practices.

It is still very difficult to call yourself a witch in today’s society because people either think you are nuts or evil. No one should every be ashamed of their religious practices and they should not be treated differently because of them but in a society that has burned people in the past it is still not unwise to be careful who you announce to that you are a witch.

I know of at least one college that would fire you for admitting that you practice witchcraft.

Comment by jeff on April 7, 2010 at 1:26pm: "No one should every be ashamed of their religious practices..."

you have to be kidding - that's a mighty wide net you're casting.