Federal Court in Denver Rules Christian Cop Must Attend Mosque To Learn About Islamic Beliefs

Federal Court Rules Christian Cop Must Attend Mosque To Learn About Islamic Beliefs
A panel of federal judges in Denver, in an opinion written by Judge Harris Hartz, found that it is perfectly appropriate for a police chief to order subordinates to attend an Islamic mosque where Muslims “discussed Islamic beliefs, Muhammad, Mecca, and why and how Muslims pray” in addition to encouraging officers “to buy” Islamic books and pamphlets that were for sale.
The ruling came on Thursday from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case brought by Capt. Paul Fields, who had been ordered by Tulsa police officials to either go to a special event at the local mosque himself, or order others to do that.
Fields refused based on religious freedom objections and was punished for that.
The judges on the 10th Circuit panel said that was perfectly appropriate.
“This ruling is troubling on so many levels,” said Robert Muise, of the American Freedom Law Center, which has pursued the case since it developed several years ago.

“We have argued throughout this case that Capt. Fields was summarily punished for simply raising and asserting a religious objection to the order mandating attendance at the Islamic event, and that such discriminatory treatment violates the First and 14th Amendments,” he said. “Yet, inexplicably, the 10th Circuit refused to address this main issue on appeal, claiming that it was not raised below.

“The court is wrong, and we intend to seek full court review of this patently erroneous decision,” he said.

“The evidence is overwhelming that the city and its senior police officials wanted to make an example of Capt. Fields by harshly punishing him, a Christian, for objecting on religious grounds to an order compelling attendance at an Islamic event,” said David Yerushalmi, co-founder for the AFLC.

“Consequently, when judges can rewrite the case and the case history to fit the conclusion they seek, as the 10th Circuit has done here, due process is robbed of any meaning,” he said.

“Had a Muslim officer objected to attending a Jewish event to be held at a synagogue on a Saturday and the officer was treated like Capt. Fields, there is little doubt that the entire Tulsa Police Department chain of command would have been fired,” Yerushalmi said.

Wild Thing’s comment.……..
This is so wrong what the Federal Court is doing to this policeman.