October 04, 2011 01:37pm
Go to Church or Go to Jail
Source: Letters to the Editor
by: Will Jarvis
Go to Church or Go to Jail – This is Real (Really Scary) -- Plus Goddesses and Some Good News About HIV
It's no joke (actually it's frightening). A town in Alabama has instituted a program to give certain convicted individuals the choice of going to jail or to church, as I'm sure many of you have heard (or read about). The Aclu is, of course, opposing this as being Unconstitutional. Gee, I wonder, were I to be arrested there, if they'd let me serve my term at the Goddess Temple in Arizona. Not likely I suspect.
That's another story I'm following. Have you heard about this? The priestesses at the Goddess Temple did tantra and sexual healing. But Law Enforcement arrested them for prostitution, something they used to do to those of us making porn movies. The State of California sort of accepted the legitimacy of religions that involve sexual practices in the case of Sabrina Aset and will Tracy some years ago. Sabrina was High Priestess of the Church of the Most High Goddess (a modern form of an old Egyptian religion). Sabrina also did a few porn movies. I met them when I interviewed them for a magazine and I appeared in one or two movies with Sabrina. When they were arrested (I believe on prostitution and pandering charges) the Court acknowledged the validity of their beliefs but instructed them that they would not be allowed to practice or preach those beliefs.
Sabrina mentioned something (I think more-or-less off-hand) about the religion to an undercover police woman and they were arrested and sentenced to jail-time for violating the terms of their probation. Will had graduated law school but not taken the bar exam, and acted as attorney in the case. Since will was in jail, he needed a Legal Runner to file documents and whatnot. We got a Court Order and I became his Legal Runner. As soon as the Prison Officials found out we were writing and sending out press releases and such to the media, will got transferred to the heavy-duty lock-up area of the jail. I don't know what it's officially called but getting in to see him became more difficult. Still, we managed. Will served six months of a nine month sentence.
Sabrina served nine months of a one year sentence. A fellow named Larry Leathers, who some of you may remember, visited Sabrina every Saturday for those nine months, never missing once. And often he picked up Sabrina and will's children and brought them to see their Mom at the Women's Prison in Lancaster or Palmdale (or wherever the heck it is). Larry also volunteered his time to the Free Speech Coalition's Legal Committee for several years. Six months or nine months out of someone's life for engaging in their religious beliefs and practices? And the recent Goddess Temple arrests? What happened to freedom of religion?
We've made porn legal, so why is prostitution still illegal? And why are religious practices involving sex illegal? Church and State are supposed to be separate. I just don't see how the Government can have any say in how people choose to worship.
Let's have some good news to end with. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have figured out, in laboratory tests, how to disarm the HIV virus and prevent it from attacking the immune system. It works in the lab; inside a real person, they don't know yet. But this is a significant leap forward in developing an HIV vaccine.
The links below are all from Raw Story.
Church/Jail http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/26/alabama-town-to-offenders-go-to-church-or- go-to-jail/
Goddess Temple http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/12/arizona-goddess-temple-members-arrested- for-prostitution/
Disarming HIV http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/26/johns-hopkins-scientists-figure-out-how- to-disarm-aids-virus/
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for your time.
Will "Taliesin" Jarvis
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