Define Religious Freedom

Define freedom, if you will.1

Webster’s New World dictionary defines freedom as the state or quality of being free. Exemption or liberation from the control of some other person or some arbitrary power. So what about religious freedom, our so-called right according the to First Amendment? Do we really have religious ‘freedom’?2

I’m asking this question because on this day, September 14, 2008, I found myself watching a short video on the website, www.vimeo.com. The video was titled ‘The Gathering’ and was created by the user Seth Gadsden and while watching it I found myself slightly mortified. 3

In the short film it showed a large group of people gathering in a national park in Wyoming for the annual Rainbow Gathering and the violent attack that took place during what was supposed to be a peaceful event.4

Law enforcements had heard of this gathering and had received a tip that there was illicit drug use taking place. They decided to take action.5

While I agree that they should have taken action and arrested those who were using the drugs, what they ended up doing took it far over the edge and left me feeling disgust and even a sense of loathing for the officers. 6

U.S. Forest Service officers infiltrated the massive campsite and attempted to catch the ONE MAN, yes, a single man, who was supposedly in possession of pot. They ended up arresting two men, the one who was in possession, and another man was detained for interfering physically, but of course law enforcement stirred up heaps of trouble at the camp where all the Rainbow Gathering goers (Rainbows) were all staying.7

One Rainbow, who only called himself “Ryan”, told Deborah Stevens of Round Rock, the Texas-based We the People Radio Network, that when officers first made their way into Rainbows’ Kid Village, the area north of the main meadow where dinner and prayer took place, that he was with his two children in their tent. One of the ten officers who came into the camp pointed a pepper spray gun at Ryan and his children, while his girlfriend, who was outside at the time, was approached by four officers and was asked if she was using marijuana. 8

The officers soon made their way through Kid Village and through the camp’s cooking area and then the chaos soon followed.9

Many people were assaulted and detained by officers. It became obvious that law enforcement was going to show no mercy when they pointed their guns loaded with rubber bullets at small children, even shooting a few while many Rainbows fled the area. 10

By the time I had finished watching the video and read a few of the articles on the said event I felt myself questioning our religious freedom. I mean, sure, to some people maybe the Rainbows attending The Rainbow Gathering weren’t an actual religious denomination, but in my eyes it was a somewhat religious event. It was a gathering for prayer, togetherness, and other such things. Do our rights not apply to that?11

As I began my inner debate, I recalled something I had read in a book called “Llewellyn’s 2003 Wicca Almanac”. The story I read on those pages also dealt with another event that was interrupted so rudely, but this time…there was no police involvement. In fact, police didn’t even show up when telephoned. 12

This event took place on March 16, 2002 when an estimated fifty Wiccans gathered at Witches Grove store in Lancaster, California. They had gathered to celebrate the Spring Equinox when several cars filled with large groups of Christian protesters who had come to disrupt the ceremony. 13

The protesters turned their car speakers on to the maximum settings and blared Christian rock music and turned their exhaust fumes into the Wiccan’s circle. It’s reported that at least two men emerged from their cars and bumped into a few participants of the Wiccan’s gathering while screaming out Bible verses and prayers.14

One of the leaders of the Wicacn ritual attempted to call the police, but when they did there was no response from law enforcement. One of the Christian protesters pulled out a business card with a sheriff’s logo and told the Wiccans, “The sherrif won’t come…You’ve already lost the war.”15

Even after all of this was all said and done there wasn’t a single charge of crime on the protesters, not even a hate crime.16

After recalling this instance I felt myself becoming utterly sick with what our system had become, how corrupt it all turned out to be. 17

Aren’t cops or any other law enforcement figures supposed to be the good guys? Aren’t they supposed to help protect our rights as Americans, regardless of religion? And better yet, shouldn’t they be the ones stopping the attacks, not stirring them up? To be honest…I’m not so sure anymore. 18

Tell me now, how do we define the right to religious freedom?19