Comment below: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- TurquoiseB wrote: > > > > it's fuckin' inappropriate for *any* judge *anywhere* > > to be able to compel *anyone* to practice *any* form of > > meditation or spiritual practice for *any* reason. Period. > > I don't believe compulsion enters in; I believe the parolee > decides whether to participate in the program. I've forgotten > the details. > > The dicey question might be whether the parolee gets > easier terms as a result of participation. Again, I don't recall. > > This question is kinda like the grammar question I commented > on a moment ago. I don't know what the rules are, but I know > what feels right, and it feels like the Enlightened Sentencing > Program is a great thing. > **END**
The meditation offered through the Enlightened Sentencing program is offered to certain criminal defendants as an order of Probation, not Parole. Parole is a type of supervision one is subjec to upon release from prison. Probation is offered to someonw who is *not* going to prison (at least not right now and unless, perhaps, they violate the terms and conditions of their probation). It's a kind of conditional release. There are lots of orders and conditions given in any grant of probation and they frequently involve participation in quasi- religious programs like AA or even church conducted programs with very heavy Christian components (Teen Challenge, Rescue Mission, etc.). So to the degree that meditating using a mantra derived from Hindu tantric sources has anything to do with religion, it's no different from other terms and conditions given thousands of probationers. And since most meditators don't have much of an inkling of the link to Hinduism, other than a cursory summary of the meditation's origins within that cultural context it seems that it is even less offensive than commonly accepted probation orders. A criminal defendant can always reject probation if they object to any of the terms but that's rarely the case as most will agree to almost anything if that means they can get out of jail and/or avoid prison. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
