The Fundamental Right to Participate in Religion - Essay Example

In human life, there is the fundamental right to practice or participate in the religion of one’s choice. This law ensures that every human being recognizes and respects the beliefs, practices, and religious actions of fellow men, thus promoting social understanding, peaceful coexistence, and respect (Tyler, 2006). This makes life enjoyable and meaningful since there is no hatred or discrimination against human beings due to their beliefs and faith.
In the case of the warden jail and the Latin Kings gang members, there arise two issues; the freedom to practice religion and the observance of the jail rules and conditions. The gang members had sewn black and gold emblems on the prison issue shirts. This prompted the jail management to establish a rule banning the display of such colors that deviate from the established prison clothing. The rule encourages the inmates to wear homemade black and gold Rosary Beads around their necks and thus the prison staff decides to confiscate them, but the inmates threaten to file a suit against such action since action interferes with their freedom of worship.
However, as a warden of the jail, I would go ahead and confiscate the beads since laws and regulations must be respected and appreciated by both parties (Singh et al, 2007). Being partisan to one law at the expense of the other is biased since it limits the freedom of other people guided by the foregone law or regulation. Therefore, for the prisoners to complain that their right to practice their own religion is compromised due to confiscation of the beads is biased since in observing their right, the gang also denies the prison its right to implement laws that facilitate the effective management and promotes equality. In case, the right of the prisoners is observed and respected, then what about the rest of the inmates who do not belong to such religion? They will feel discriminated against and not recognized. Moreover, what if the prisoners demand similar treatment, but each one of them belongs to a different religion? This will lead to a mixture of prison uniforms and thus, will compromise the integrity of the prison uniform and lead to loss of its identity. Therefore, in this scenario, the suit is likely to fail since in observing the right to practice religion, the rights of other prisoners and the prison will be compromised and thus lead to biasness (Siegel, 2009). Based on such considerations, the court will reject the suit considering the above grounds. Read More