Remmers v. Brewer, 73-1518
| Decision Date | 16 April 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 73-1518,73-1599.,73-1518 |
| Citation | 494 F.2d 1277 |
| Parties | Michael D. REMMERS, Ordained Revelation Minister in the Church of the New Song and Coadjutor of Local Purlieu T.R.U.T.H., and Robert Loney, Ordained Revelation Minister in the Church of the New Song and Special Envoy to the Bishop of Tellus, Appellees, v. Lou V. BREWER, Warden at Iowa State Penitentiary, et al., Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Robert N. Clinton, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, for appellees.
Thomas R. Hronek, Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for appellants.
Before GIBSON, STEPHENSON and WEBSTER, Circuit Judges.
Brewer, Warden at the Iowa State Penitentiary, et al., appeal from a decision and order of the district court holding that the Church of the New Song is a religion within the ambit of the First Amendment and ordering that officials of the penitentiary shall grant to the members thereof the right to exercise their religion equally with other religions. Michael D. Remmers, et al., cross appeal from that portion of the district court's decision refusing to restrict the activities of the chaplains in the parole process. The decision and order of the district court is reported at 361 F.Supp. 537 (S.D.Iowa 1973). We affirm.
Appellants in substance contend (1) The Church of the New Song is not a religion; (2) appellees' religious beliefs are not sincerely held; (3) even if the court should find that the Church of the New Song is a religion subject to the guarantee of the Free Exercise Clause, the court should further find that opportunity for Free Exercise exists at the Iowa State Penitentiary.
After careful consideration of the entire record we are satisfied that the district court's judgment that The Church of the New Song is a religion within the ambit of the First Amendment is based on findings that are not clearly erroneous and that no error of law appears. Further there is insufficient evidence in this record to establish appellants' contention that appellees' beliefs are not sincere and genuinely felt.1 It also appears that appellees have not been allowed a fair and meaningful opportunity to freely exercise their religion in the same degree as other inmates, Protestant and Catholic. The district court's order requiring that this situation be corrected is affirmed.
Remmers, et al., contend that the prison chaplains' involvement in the parole decision making process implicitly encourages inmates to participate in religious activities and thereby has the primary effect of aiding religion. It is urged that the present system has the effect of advancing the Christian religion and inhibiting non-christian religions and thereby violates the Establishment Clause.
The district...
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