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Court's Peyote Case
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44
FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1990
Washington (JTA) — The
Supreme Court decision
allowing American Indians
to be prosecuted for the use
of illegal drugs in religious
rituals could result in mak-
ing illegal such Jewish
ritual practices as drinking
wine for kiddush, the
slaughter of kosher meat
and circumcision, a Jewish
leader warns.
Henry Siegman, executive
director of the American
Jewish Congress, issued the
warning at a news con-
ference after the American
Jewish Congress and 15
other religious and civil lib-
erties organizations filed a
petition with the Supreme
Court asking for a rehearing
of the case, popularly known
as the "Peyote case."
The court ruled 6-3 on
April 17 that two members
of an American Indian chur-
ch could not be exempted
from an Oregon law that
makes it a crime to possess
or use peyote, even though
they used it only for
sacramental purposes.
Justice Antonin Scalia,
who wrote the majority opi-
nion, rejected the Oregon
Supreme Court's ruling that
the First Amendment free
exercise of religion clause
required that the two men,
Alfred Smith and Galen
Black, be exempted from the
Oregon law.
"For all practical pur-
poses, a majority of the
Supreme Court has elim-
inated the free exercise
clause of the First Amend-
ment from our Bill of
Rights," Siegman said.
The Rev. Dean Kelley, di-
rector for religious liberty of
the National Council of
Churches, said the court's
decision "gutted" the free
exercise clause.
He compared the Scalia
ruling with the 1857 Dred
Scott decision, which said
that a black slave was prop-
erty and not a U.S. citizen.
"Justice Scala said in effect
that religious minorities
have no rights to religious
practices that majorities are
bound to respect," Kelley
said.
He charged the decision
"not only devastated the Na-
tive American Church but
struck a serious blow at all
religious groups in this
country."
The petition for a rehear-
ing was signed by such a di-
verse group of organizations
as the American Civil Liber-
ties Union and the National
Association of Evangelicals.
"I doubt that these groups
have ever been in the same
room together, much less in
a joint project of this
magnitude," said Oliver
Thomas, general counsel for
the Baptist Joint Committee
on Public Affairs.
"These individuals and
organizations agree on very
little," Thomas said. "They
all agree, however, that the
Smith decision is disastrous
for the free exercise of re-
ligion."
On specific Jewish ritual
practices, the petition noted
that under the ruling, the
‘`government could, for ex-
ample, without constitu-
tional impediment, bar all
`non-humane' slaughter, and
thus effectively outlaw Jew-
ish and Moslem ritual
slaughter; (and) outlaw as
medically unnecessary all
circumcision, including that
practiced for religious
reasons by Jews, Moslems
and Coptic. Christians." The
news conference was to have
been held on the steps of the
Supreme Court, but a dren-
ching rain forced it to move.
All the speakers expressed
dismay that neither the
American public nor the
media has realized the seri-
ousness of the Peyote deci-
sion.
Some suggested that this
was because it dealt with il-
legal drugs, which has
become a major concern in
the United States.
Thomas said that Ameri-
cans do not realize yet that
this ruling could impact on
their own churches and syn-
agogues. "What is affecting
Native Americans today will
affect Catholics and Jews
and Baptists tomorrow," he
said.
Atlas Seeking
Help In Israel
Tel Aviv (JTA) — Allison
Atlas, a 20-year-old leukemia
victim from Bethesda, Md.,
has turned to Israel as the
last hope to find a compatible
donor of bone marrow which
may still save her life.
Doctors say the best
chance is to locate an
unknown distant relative of
Eastern European Jewish
origin.
None has been found in the
eastern United States,
although more than 20,000
persons have volunteered to
be tested since November.
More than 200 people have
found potential donors
through the efforts of Atlas.