Patrick McCollum’s Fight for Your Religious Rights
Patrick McCollum’s legal challenge against the State of California may sound like it just concerns the religious freedom of prisoners, but make no mistake: the outcome of his case will affect every one of us, and determine whether our Constitutional right to freedom of religion is conditional or absolute.
There have been several great articles written about Patrick recently, by Jason Pitzl-Waters at the Wild Hunt, Gus diZerega at Beliefnet, and thisLlewellyn article by Donald Michael Kraig. Today I sat in for my friend and colleague Peter Laufer on his Sunday morning KOWS radio show, which gave me the opportunity to interview Patrick on the air about his case. If you have not educated yourself about the case and what is at stake, now is your chance to listen to Patrick explain it in his own words.
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Time is of the essence for making our voice heard in this case, and publicity, like sunlight, may be the best disinfectant for the insidious creep of religious discrimination not just in California but nationwide. Here again are the people to contact in the State government. Phone calls and written letters are best, and public pressure really can make a difference.
Write the Governor of California. This is a federal case, so you do NOT have to be a California resident to make your views known. If California prevails, similar efforts will be made in other states.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
For the same reason write California’s Attorney General.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
Attorney General’s Office
California Department of Justice
Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
And write the Secretary of the California Dept. of Corrections.
Matthew Cate
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
P.O. Box 942883
Sacramento, CA 94283-0001
916-445-1773
State that you want a state-wide truly fair and neutral policy that includes equal accommodations of Pagans and other minority religions based on religiously neutral criteria.
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:46 am
[...] There is an excellent audio interview with Patrick McCollum over on Anne Hill’s Blog of Gnosis. [...]
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:35 am
[...] discriminatory “five faiths” policy overturned, you’re going to want to listen to Anne Hill’s hour-long radio discussion with McCollum concerning the case. “Today I sat in for my friend and colleague Peter Laufer on his Sunday morning KOWS radio [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:52 am
It’s amazing what the government doesn’t want you to know! If you don’t keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on things will get past us and the next thing you know you’re looking around confused wondering what happened and how it was able to pass!!! Awesome interview!
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:05 pm
This was an excellent interview and we have been following this case from the beginning and support Rev. McCollum in his battle for Religious Freedom.
Blessings in Light
Rev. Ariana
Temple of Diana, Inc.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
[...] case, I send you to the Wild Hunt, and McCollum’s site for more information. And Gnosis Cafe has an interview with Patrick McCollum about the [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
[...] and Pagan podcastsers and media personalities have been interviewing Mr. McCollum, including Anne Hill and T. Thorn [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 9:51 am
[...] out what books are worth reading. In order to obtain that information look for book reviews and author interviews and profiles. To make your work easier I also did a bit of research and it seems that these are the [...]
March 15th, 2010 at 11:58 am
[...] ongoing legal battle with the state of California is important to all modern Pagans, and should be an excellent companion to the recent interview done by Anne Hill. This is a [...]
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:41 am
[...] show, here. I also urge you to check out Patrick’s other recent radio/podcast interviews with Anne Hill and Ravencast. The important thing at this stage is to keep our community aware of this case as it [...]