Lawsuit Over Mandated Treatment with Religious Overtones December 8, 2005
News Summary
A Michigan man convicted of marijuana possession is suing the state for requiring him to attend a church-run addiction treatment program or go to jail, the Detroit Free Press reported Dec. 7.Joseph Hanas, in a suit backed by the ACLU, says he was compelled to attend a yearlong residential treatment program at Flint's Inner City Christian Outreach Center, where he said that he was offered the choice of conversion or conviction. Hanas, a Catholic, said the Pentecostal-based program included speaking in tongues and laying on of hands in prayer. He said program staff told him Catholicism was witchcraft and took away his rosary beads and prayer book.
Hanas said he asked the court to be transferred to a different program but was turned down; he then dropped out, landing him in jail and a boot camp for six months.
Church pastor Dwight Richard Rottiers said that Hanas was never told he had to convert, although he acknowledged that Hanas was required to attend Pentecostal services and was barred from attending Catholic services. Rottiers said Hanas was told that the program was Christian-based before he attended.
"If that's against their religious rights, they shouldn't come here," Rottiers said. "Nobody forced him to come."
The ACLU is seeking to have Hanas' conviction overturned, saying he was punished for failing to complete a program that went against his religious beliefs.
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