Snowbowl decision

[Steven Jamar]

Can someone provide examples of how this affects Christians?  What benefit
would they be denied or sanction would they suffer based on beliefs or
spiritual responses to something?  The 9th Circuit test seems to me to have
no implications for non-earth-based religions.
But I assume this is really just my lack of imagination.  What regulation
would (a) substantially affect a belief and spiritual experience) of a
Christian, but (b) not substantially effect an exercise of that belief in
the way used by the 9th Circuit (i.e., prevent performance under some threat
of sanction or deny a benefit because of performance of the religious
exercise)?  Belief in the trinity or sacraments or icons or miracles don't
seem to qualify.

So even taking a broad view, I don't see anything.  Consider abortion -- a
doctor says he believes it to be against his religion.  The government (in
an alternate universe) says he has to perform the abortions or lose his
medicare payments for everything he does.  This would be burdening the
action -- requiring an action under threat of sanction.  It would meet the
9th Circuit burden test.

Zoning -- well, that is local, isn't it.  And this case was about how the
federal government uses its own land -- not regulating someone else's.

Please help me out here.  I just suffer from a lack of imagination on this I
guess.

While my emotional side sides with the dissent -- and I think we should see
such harms as real and protected, I don't see how this decision affects
anyone other than sacred space types.

Steve



-- 
Prof. Steven Jamar
Howard University School of Law
Associate Director, Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
(IIPSJ) Inc.
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