NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.
The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.
The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.
“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus’ crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.
… yeah man I don’t think it’s an unfair assessment to say that at least the 10 guys all of different religions getting together and saying they all have a vaguely stated religious need to see the solar eclipse aren’t at least kind of bullshitting.
They’re still right to do it. But no dude, these are not a group of guys who legitimately feel watching the solar eclipse is vital to their religion lol. They’re a group of guys trying to scrap a bit of freedom and dignity in an oppressive environment.
The human experience is vast, and it’s presumptuous, naive, and arrogant to pretend to know the full extent of what other people believe.
