Did you know, the claim of "my religion made me do it" is now an acceptable defense in the United States of America? Or, at least in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania? That's right: you can now assault people on the street as long as you claim it's your religious right. I mean, the First Amendment does protect your rights to religious freedom, does it not?
It seems as though, Magistrate Mark W. Martin, of Mechanicsburg, PA has decided that not only is ignorance of the law an excuse under the law, but offensive Hallowe'en costumes are assault worthy and Free Speech is trumped by those who claim the rights of religious freedom.
Why?
Because a man, an atheist, wore a zombie Muhammod costume during a Hallowe'en parade and a Muslim man assaulted him for breaking Islamic law.
Um, where is the law of the United States, here? Heck, even the law of Pennsylvania? I'm sure there's a provision against assault somewhere. However, in Pennsylvania the law is not protecting the assaulted even though the Muslim man told one story to the police on the night of the physical assault and another, less criminalizing one to the magistrate in court.
And who did the court believe? The man with the video evidence (that wasn't allowed to be admitted) and the police officer or the Muslim man? Nope.
The Muslim man. But wait, you might ask. Isn't this a land of laws and evidence and CSI: and whatnot? Apparently not in Mechanicburg, PA.
What's sad is, we normally hear these kinds of cases from afar, we hear about the woman who was raped or the infidel who was killed or some other similar story about a atrocity performed by a Muslim against someone else and their courts always defend the man who perpetrated the crime, citing Islam-this and Muslim-that. We always hear about these cases and we thank ourselves that we live in a rule of law, of evidence and procedure. We always find solace that religious ideology and belief is not an defense of crimes.
Now, we're not so safe.
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