Bible Literacy Classes Are Constitutional Under Certain Conditions

Today, President Donald Trump tweeted the following:

My first reaction was this cannot be constitutional. A little research led me to The Bible Literacy Project, which publishes a textbook titled The Bible and Its Influence. (This textbook was launched in 2005, a decade before Trump took office.) According to The Bible Literacy Project, this is the only First Amendment-safe textbook currently on the market.

Justification for Biblical literacy is that understanding the stories and characters of the Bible may contribute to an enhanced understanding of literature, history, music and art.

According to Finding Common Ground: A First Amendment Guide to Religion and Public Schools, teaching about religion  incorporates the following concepts:

  1. The school’s approach to religion is academic, not devotional.
  2. The school may strive for student awareness of religions, but should not press for student acceptance of any one religion.
  3. The school may sponsor study about religion, but may not sponsor the practice of religion.
  4. The school may expose students to a diversity of religious views, but may not impose any
    particular view.
  5. The school may educate about all religions, but may not promote or denigrate any religion.
  6. The school may inform the student about various beliefs, but should not seek to conform him or her to any particular belief.

The Biblical Literacy Project notes that the teaching of the Bible in public schools has been upheld by the Supreme Court as long as the curriculum is objective and part of a secular program.

18,000 Pounds of Marijuana Seized in Oklahoma May be Industrial Hemp

Hemp plant image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

When Pawhuska, Oklahoma police stopped a semi truck that went through a stoplight, they found the truck full of what looked and smelled like marijuana. It even field tested positive for marijuana, which is possible since Industrial Hemp actually has traces of THC.

Panacea Life Sciences, based in Colorado, claims the load is certified as Industrial Hemp and the load is legal. Nonetheless, the Osage County District Attorney has charged four men with aggravated trafficking of marijuana.

Meanwhile, a sample of the product has been sent to the DEA for confirmation, but the government shutdown is delaying the possibility of a quick answer. Both hemp and marijuana are cultivated from the cannabis sativa plant–the only difference is in the level of THC in the plant.

Assuming the product does test positive as Industrial Hemp, the question remains as to whether it was legal to truck it through the state. Federal laws have remained somewhat ambiguous on the subject and states may legislate against having Industrial Hemp transported through their states.

Since Oklahoma only recently voted to allow Medical Marijuana, and since Industrial Hemp is allowed to be grown within the state, it may not have been faced with this problem before. The state statute does not address the issue of trucking Industrial Hemp grown in another state passing through Oklahoma.

The Cannabis Law Blog cautions those transporting hemp to check their route very carefully, making sure in advance that states passed through allow for interstate transportation. During advance planning, the company was told by Kansas, South Dakota, and Nebraska that the load would be seized. In this case, Patriot Shield, a security company escorting the load, did call ahead but did not receive a definitive answer from Oklahoma and may have been taking a chance on law enforcement. In fact, Cultivate Law confirms that interstate transportation is still very risky.

Transporting CBD: Plan Your Route Carefully

The Interstate Transportation of Hemp Plants, Seeds, and CBD

State Industrial Hemp Statutes may be found here:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/agriculture-and-rural-development/state-industrial-hemp-statutes.aspx

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More than 1,000 Hemp Industries Association ® Members to Benefit from Official Designation of Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity

Hemp Industries Association ® Applauds Passage of 2018 Farm Bill, Hemp Industry Poised for Dramatic Growth

December 20, 2018 – PHOENIX – The Hemp Industries Association (HIA), the leading hemp trade association founded in 1994 and comprised of over 1,000 hemp businesses, has issued this statement regarding President Trump’s official signing of the 2018 Farm Bill into law. The bill, which redefines hemp as an agricultural commodity, explicitly removes hemp from the purview of the Controlled Substances Act and the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Administration, thereby paving the way for a massive expansion of economic opportunities across all sectors of the hemp industry.

While this bill allows state and tribal governments to impose their own restrictions and requirements, members of the hemp industry can now work with federally regulated institutions such as banks, merchant services, credit card companies, and advertising platforms. Further, hemp farmers can finally access needed crop insurance and can fully participate in USDA programs for certification and competitive grants. In addition, interstate transport of hemp and hemp products will be legal in all 50 states. The bill specifically defines hemp, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3%, including the plant’s viable seeds, extracts, and derivatives.

“Despite being able to legally participate in a 2014 Farm Bill-compliant hemp pilot program, every participating farmer took some sort of financial or otherwise substantial risk,” said Colleen Keahey Lanier Executive Director of the Hemp Industries Association. “The hemp provision in the 2018 Farm Bill eliminates those risks in favor of full recognition as an agricultural commodity. We are grateful for the collaborative organization support for the updated provisions made by the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, American Herbal Products Association, National Hemp Association, Vote Hemp, Drug Policy Alliance, and NORML.”

While CBD has been the most high-profile hemp product in recent years, hemp has been cultivated for the purpose of food and body care products, paper, textiles, and building materials for hundreds of years. Hemp seeds provide the highest content of digestible protein in both the plant and animal kingdoms and a recent study from Spain’s University of Seville found that hemp seed may have “favorable nutritional implications and beneficial physiological effects on the prevention of coronary heart disease and cancer.” That said, the FDA will continue to exercise jurisdiction over the regulation of ingestible and topical hemp products.

“After decades of commitment and hard work by revolutionary pioneers and advocates, legalization of the extraordinarily versatile hemp crop as an agricultural commodity is finally upon us. From dense nutrition, body care, and wellness, to paper, textiles, building materials, bioplastics, biofuel, and nanotechnology, hemp has arrived to reinvigorate American farms. We are now experiencing the historic ushering in of true agricultural and industrial revolutions in the United States, and the HIA is poised and ready for both!” said Joy Beckerman, HIA Board President.

The United States is currently the largest importer of hemp goods in the world. The hemp market generated over $820 million in sales in the U.S. in 2017, up from $680 million in 2016, and is expected to swell to $1.9 billion by 2022. Just under 10,000 acres of hemp were cultivated in the U.S. under agricultural pilot and other programs in 2016, and that number more than doubled to just under 26,000 acres in 2017. Using available data for 2018, the Hemp Industries Association estimates there are upwards of 1,200 licensed U.S. hemp farmers operating on over 40,000 acres, along with hundreds of processors across the nation. The new Farm Bill opens the floodgates to domestic production, economic stimulus, job creation, and opportunities for international trade.

Toxic Masculinity was first coined in the context of male-positivity in 1980s: Shepherd Bliss

Image courtesy Gillette, The Best Men Can Be Ad Campaign, 2019

The first use of the term toxic masculinity is credited to author and professor Shepherd Bliss.

Describing the first use of the now controversial term, Bryant Sculos, in a 2017 essay titled “Who’s Afraid of Toxic Masculinity?”, writes that Bliss first used the term in his doctoral dissertation, and that Bliss is also credited with coining the term “mythopoetic,” used to describe a men’s movement popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

In a 1987 article authored by Bliss himself titled “Revisioning Masculinity: A report on the growing men’s movement,” he describes mythopoetic as an alternative vision of what it means to be a man.” Bliss adds that “this approach looks to ancient mythology and fairytales, to Jungian and archetypal psychology, and to poets and teachers like Robert Bly and James Hillman.”

Placed within an historical context, the burgeoning men’s movement grew out of a combination of the strength of the women’s movement of the ‘70s and the changing workplace, where women moved into traditional male jobs and men were expected to contribute more at home and with child-rearing. This left men feeling somewhat confused about personal, societal and economic expectations placed upon them.

One of the most memorable practices of this period were men’s retreats where men only went off into nature and did secret stuff. I know this because my father went to one. He said he couldn’t tell me much about it, but that it involved talking sticks, fires, drums and somehow I envisioned nudity and chanting, though I am not sure about those details. I am positive, however, that he was very upset he was ever circumcised. None of this was in the least bit funny to him, and he did not welcome giggles from me.

Bliss described the encounters more like this: “In the Mendocino woods each year since 1982, nearly 100 men have gathered to spend a week together drumming, reciting poetry, learning aikido, playing volleyball, telling stories, making masks, listening to presentations by men like Robert Bly and psychologist James Hillman, and dancing a wild samba late into the night.”

In 2014, Bliss entered a discussion on Reddit writing, “I did use the term ‘toxic masculinity,’ among others, to differentiate forms of male behavior and being that are contrary to the male positive, pro-feminist, gay-affirmative positions that I support. This was a few decades ago when I was active in the men’s work. I also wrote and talked about ‘cooperative masculinity,’ which is nature-based.”

Bliss emphasized a discovery of the authentic self through spiritual searching and communing with nature and an exploration of emotions, from grief to ecstasy. The goal is to foster more male-positive behaviors, ultimately leading to men becoming better humans as well as happier in their own skin.

Specifically, Bliss recommended the following:
Nurturing the father-son connection by reconciling with or forgiving their own fathers as well as being there for the sons.

Cultivating male friendships to learn cooperation and to avoid competitive behaviors.

Attending more to their physical health as men do not live as long as women.

Improving male modes of intimacy, not in terms of sexual intimacy but in terms of working alongside one another in activities or projects.

Improving male modes of feeling through expression of emotions rather than repressing them.

Improving the male body, or the male body image, avoiding body shame and fostering pride, particularly by working with other men.

Bliss added that other “issues include male-female relationships, homophobia, domestic violence, and men and war.”

So while today, toxic masculinity seems to imply emotionless aggression; competition; sexism or outright misogyny; homophobia and other outdated attitudes, Bliss abandoned the term and focused on the positive. He ended his 1987 essay by saying, “The men’s movement also has the potential to impact our culture as a whole. If men were to place greater value on their relationships with other men, spend more time with children, have a better connection to nature, work with women for equality, and take better care of their bodies, society as a whole would almost certainly be transformed for the better.

“Men are changing today, too fast for some and not fast enough for others. Though confusing to many, ours is a time for revisioning masculinity and redefining what it means to be a man.”

Tanzanian Witch Murders and more: Belief Has Real World Consequences

Detail of Witches feasting, featured in The History of Witches and Wizards (1720) — Source (Wellcome Library)

While recently exploring the beliefs surrounding the vampire rumors in Malawi, I ran across a Religion News Services (RNS) article on witch murders in Tanzania.

According to both researchers and human rights organizations, the victims of these witch killings are primarily elderly women. They are killed both by mobs and by their own family members. Typically, the murders spike when economic conditions are harsh. Belief that common misfortunes, such as a year of bad crops, too much or too little rain, are believed to be caused by a witch in their midst. If the witch is removed from the community, good fortune might be restored.

RNS reported that “About 93 percent of Tanzanians say they believe in witchcraft, according to a Pew Research Center report in 2012 — a higher percentage than those who say they believe in organized religion — and 60 percent of the country depends on witch doctors for treating ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft.”

Witch doctors are self-identified and have no special training; however they are often responsible for divining who the witch in the community is, and then violence will likely follow.

Katy Migiro, a writer for Reuters, says many of these killings may be explained as a land grab. Widowed women stand in the way of their children inheriting land owned by their fathers, so if a widowed woman is declared a witch, a killing may allow the children to inherit the land, explaining why some of the murders are carried out by an elderly woman’s own family.

The Tanzanian government, Tanzania human rights groups, and Tanzania based Christian churches condemn the murders, but they do continue, particularly in rural farming communities where lack of education, extreme poverty and a scarcity of land exist. Speaking out against the witch hunts is discouraged as it may indicate the dissenter is in fact a witch herself. (Men may also be declared witches but it is rare.) Some women are able to flee their villages and seek refuge with charities who support the elderly.

In addition to the witch killings, Tanzania witch doctors participate in the killing of albinos, whose body parts considered to be good luck charms. In March of 2015, 32 Tanzanian witch doctors were arrested on charges of sacrificial albino ritual killings. An albino’s body parts may fetch up to $75,000 US dollars.

The Tanzanian government placed a ban on witch doctors in 2015. Not all witch doctors participate in “witchcraft,” with some only practicing traditional medicine. However, witch killings have continued, with Africa News reporting that Tanzania witch killings claimed 479 lives from January – June 2017.

Unrelated to witchcraft but rather to cultural norms, the commissioner of Dar es Salaam announced a round-up of homosexuals who may face 30 years to life in prison. The commission asked the citizens of Tanzania to submit tips.

On November 6, 2018, Amnesty International reported that ten men had been arrested in Zanzibar on suspicion of being gay based on tips made to the police.

Amnesty International said, “The 10 men were arrested when police raided a party at Pongwe Beach, Zanzibar on Saturday night (3 November). Six others at the event fled.” Allegedly, the group was celebrating a same-sex marriage.

Amnesty International has established that the men were arrested for allegedly conducting a gay marriage, with police saying they found the men sitting in pairs “two by two”.

“It is mind-boggling that the mere act of sitting in a pair can assume criminal proportions. The police clearly have no grounds to file charges against these men in court, despite arresting them three days ago,” said Seif Magango.

In response, the US State Department issued the following statement on November 9, 2018.

The United States government is deeply concerned over escalating attacks and legislative actions by the Government of Tanzania that violate civil liberties and human rights, creating an atmosphere of violence, intimidation, and discrimination. We are troubled by the continued arrests and harassment of marginalized persons, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and others who seek to exercise their rights to freedom of speech, association and assembly. Legislation is being used to restrict civil liberties for all.

The deteriorating state of human rights and rule of law in Tanzania inhibits development, economic prosperity, peace, and security. We call on Tanzanian authorities to act decisively to safeguard the rights of civil society organizations, human rights defenders, journalists, health workers, political activists, and all people in accordance with the Tanzanian constitution, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the country’s international and regional obligations and commitments.

Vampires, Blood Suckers, Witchcraft, Resurrection and more in Malawi