Wiggins v. Sargent
| Decision Date | 28 January 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1046,84-1046 |
| Citation | 753 F.2d 663 |
| Parties | Johnny Clint WIGGINS, James Martin Garner and Edward Eugene Little, Appellants, v. Willis SARGENT, Warden; Larry Norris, Assistant Warden; Robert Tansy, Assistant Warden; and Major Larry Young, Cummins Unit, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellees. Robert FROST, Terry Wilson and Bobby Joe Fruit, Appellants, v. A.L. LOCKHART, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction; and Willis H. Sargent, Warden, Cummins Unit, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
J. Harrod Berry, Little Rock, Ark., for appellants.
A. Carter Hardage, Little Rock, Ark., for appellees.
Before ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.
Johnny Clint Wiggins and other inmates from the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction appeal from the district court's dismissal of their civil rights action. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. The inmates contend that prison officials have refused to allow them to receive religious literature and to correspond with religious leaders in violation of their first amendment rights. They also allege that the officials neither allow them to visit with their religious leaders nor to congregate for religious services. The district court held that since the inmates' beliefs were not "religious in nature," they were entitled to no first amendment protection. We reject this conclusion and remand for further proceedings.
The inmates complain that prison officials unconstitutionally denied them access to religious literature and correspondence from their religious leaders and that they have been denied reasonable opportunities to practice their faith. The prison administration responds that the inmates' beliefs are not religious and that the materials were withheld because they constitute a threat to good order and discipline within the institution.
A hearing was held before a magistrate with the inmates appearing pro se. 1 Since it was undisputed that the prison officials withheld the materials and refused to allow the inmates to meet for worship and visit with their pastor, the hearing focused on the inmates' beliefs. The inmates are followers of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian and are students of the Sword of Christ Good News Ministries.
The Church of Jesus Christ Christian has some affiliation or connection with an organization known as Aryan Nations, 2 although the extent of the connection is unclear from the record. Aryan Nations was founded by Richard Butler. Butler succeeded Wesley Swift as pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in the early 1970's. Swift was the original founder of the church. Although both the church and Aryan Nations share similar beliefs, particularly a belief in the superiority of the white race, it also appears that Aryan Nations is primarily a loosely organized political entity while the Church of Jesus Christ Christian is the religious body. Donald Tauer, a member of Aryan Nations, testified that the Church of Jesus Christ Christian is affiliated with Aryan Nations and that both are headquartered in Hayden Lake, Idaho. However, he also stated that the two are separate organizations and that one does not have to be a member of Aryan Nations in order to follow the teachings of the church. Tauer further testified that prison officials refused to allow the inmates to receive a Bible study course he had sent to them. 3 The Church of Jesus Christ Christian has several buildings, a school, and a parsonage in Idaho.
The Sword of Christ Good News Ministries is mainly an evangelical ministry with Ralph Forbes as pastor. Forbes testified that his church is not really affiliated with Aryan Nations, but that they do share similar beliefs. Forbes, an ordained Baptist minister, stated that his was a circuit-riding ministry and that he holds Bible study courses and meetings at different locations. He testified that religious materials, Bible study courses, and letters he has sent to the inmates have been returned to him by prison authorities and that he has had no response to his requests for visitation permits.
As stated, the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian and the Sword of Christ Good News Ministries are similar. They believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and interpret its doctrines literally. Although it is believed that God created various races and that all of these races are "good," the white race consists of God's chosen people. They believe that they are the literal and spiritual descendants of Abraham and the "lost tribes" of Israel. They advocate racial purity and believe that race mixing is a sin which is contrary to Biblical teachings.
The district court adopted the recommendation of the magistrate. The court stated that, in order to merit first amendment protection, the inmates' beliefs must be both sincerely held and religious in nature. While the court did not "doubt the religious sincerity of the individual plaintiffs or that they truly believe in the philosophy of the Aryan Nation," it nevertheless held that the beliefs were "more a rejection of the traditional secular viewpoint of western civilization than a deeply rooted religious belief...." It therefore found that the notion of white supremacy was secular and that "[m]aking such a notion more palatable by cloaking it in the garb of fundamentalist Christianity may result in attracting followers and creating the appearance of spiritual credibility, but it does not warrant the protection of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment."
The district court was correct in noting that only sincerely held beliefs which are "rooted in religion" are protected by the free exercise clause. Thomas v. Review Bd. of the Indiana Employment Security Division, 450 U.S. 707, 713, 101 S.Ct. 1425, 1429, 67 L.Ed.2d 624 (1981); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 215-16, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 1533-34, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972). First amendment religious protection is not extended to "so-called religions which tend to mock established institutions and are obviously shams and absurdities and whose members are patently devoid of religious sincerity." Theriault v. Carlson, 495 F.2d 390, 395 (5th Cir.1974). "However, the resolution of that question is not to turn upon a judicial perception of the particular belief or practice in question; religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection." Thomas, 450 U.S. at 714, 101 S.Ct. at 1430; United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163, 184-85, 85 S.Ct. 850, 863-64, 13 L.Ed.2d 733 (1965); United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78, 86, 64 S.Ct. 882, 886, 88 L.Ed. 1148 (1944) (). The determination of whether a belief is religious or not is an extremely delicate task which must be approached with caution. A court is not to determine religious orthodoxy. Teterud v. Burns, 522 F.2d 357, 360 (8th Cir.1975).
From a review of the limited evidence presented at the hearing, we believe that the district court may have erred in its conclusion that the inmates' beliefs are purely secular. Followers of the churches involved here base their beliefs directly on literal interpretations of fundamentalist Christian theology. They believe that the Bible teaches that race mixing is a sin. However "unpalatable" such ideas are, it is not a court's prerogative to determine the validity of such beliefs. The belief system here has its own orders of worship and Articles of Faith, not to mention the fact that it has outside-the-prison organization and followers. It has its own religious dogma, hierarchy, and mandated lifestyle. It also appears that the inmates' religion may be comprehensive and that it may address fundamental and ultimate questions. Cf. Africa v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 662 F.2d 1025 (3d Cir.1982). 4
Moreover, the district court seemed to be under the mistaken impression that an idea or belief cannot be both secular and religious. It apparently grounded its conclusion on the rationale that since the notion of white supremacy was secular, it could not also be religiously based. "But a coincidence of religious and secular claims in no way extinguishes the weight appropriately accorded the religious one." Callahan v. Woods, 658 F.2d 679, 684 (9th Cir.1981). In other words, a belief can be both secular and religious. The categories are not mutually exclusive. 5 The first amendment presumably protects the area where the two overlap. Id. We believe that in this case the fact that the notion of white supremacy may be, and perhaps usually is, secular, in the sense that it is a racist idea, does not necessarily preclude it from also being religious in nature, in the sense that it may be based upon a literal interpretation of Biblical teachings. 6
The district court also appears to have been confused about the interrelationship between the churches and the Aryan Nations organization. Our review of the record leaves us with similar confusion. The distinction may be important since Aryan Nations is primarily a secular political entity. On the other hand, as we have noted, an idea can be both secular and religious and still be entitled to free exercise clause protection.
In short, due to the inadequacy of the testimony to decide the issue, and in view of the district court's apparent misconception concerning the interrelationship of secular and religious ideas, we believe the court should reexamine the entire issue of whether the inmates' beliefs are religious and whether they are therefore entitled to some free exercise clause protection. 7
There is an equally fundamental error in holding that the inmates had no first amendment interests which were implicated by the prison administrators' actions here. Even apart from any...
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