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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   ST. LOUIS (CN) — A split Eighth Circuit revived a Christian volunteer’s   
   efforts to teach a class on masculinity within the Minnesota Department of   
   Corrections.   
      
   The decision by the three-judge panel yesterday reversed a lower court’s   
   denial of Anthony Schmitt’s motion for a preliminary injunction against   
   Jolene Rebertus, the assistant commissioner of the Minnesota DOC, and Paul   
   Schnell, the commissioner of the Minnesota DOC.   
      
   In 2012, Schmitt volunteered to teach his program, “The Quest for   
   Authentic Manhood,” at a Minnesota correctional facility. The program   
   consists of 24 one-hour videos followed by a discussion session designed   
   around biblical insights on God’s design for manhood.   
      
   From 2012 until the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Schmitt and a   
   colleague taught the program with two sessions a week to inmates who   
   volunteered to attend.   
      
   Issues began in 2018, when Charles Sutter, the MDOC statewide recidivism   
   reduction project supervisor, reviewed the Quest program and identified   
   several areas of the program that did not align with evidence-based   
   practice, primarily finding that some videos discriminate based on sexual   
   orientation.   
      
   On March 17, 2020, the MDOC ceased all religious programming due to Covid-   
   19. The programming resumed in 2023, but Rebertus sent Schmitt an email on   
   July 10, 2023, informing him that he would no longer be allowed to teach   
   Quest to inmates.   
      
   The email stated, “The program directly conflicts with the diversity,   
   equity, and inclusivity values of the department by defining manhood, or   
   the study of masculinity, through a biblical lens of what a 'real man   
   looks like.'”   
      
   The decision prompted Schmitt to file a lawsuit, claiming the decision   
   violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of   
   religion and established a denominational preference in violation of the   
   Establishment Clause.   
      
   While the state prevailed at the federal court level, U.S. Circuit Judge   
   Lavenski Smith, a George W. Bush appointee, found that the MDOC was biased   
   toward Schmitt’s religion in ceasing the program.   
      
   “Rebertus’s letter plainly states that the MDOC did not oppose Schmitt   
   teaching generally about ‘manhood, or the study of masculinity’; instead,   
   it objected to Schmitt discussing the topic ‘through a biblical lens of   
   what a ‘real man looks like’ or through what the MDOC perceived as   
   ‘through a lens of discrimination, exclusivity, gender biases and   
   stereotypes,’” Smith wrote for the majority, which included U.S. Circuit   
   Judge Jonathan A. Kobes, a Donald Trump appointee.   
      
   Smith added, “In short, the MDOC objected to Schmitt’s religious viewpoint   
   on masculinity. This is viewpoint discrimination.”   
      
   But U.S. Circuit Judge Jane L. Kelly dissented, contending that the state   
   made a strong argument that its rehabilitative programming constitutes   
   government speech. The Barack Obama appointee wrote in the dissent that   
   the public interest and balance of the equities weigh strongly in favor of   
   MDOC.   
      
   “Schmitt seeks to force a prison to reinstate a program — with the   
   prison’s stamp of approval — that the prison concluded was ‘harmful and   
   hinder[ed] the rehabilitation process for incarcerated individuals,’”   
   Kelly wrote. “Typically, we defer to prison administrators about these   
   things.”   
      
   A MDOC spokesperson said the department is in the process of reviewing the   
   decision and since it is active litigation the department had no further   
   comment.   
      
   Schmitt’s attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment   
   on the ruling.   
      
   The case was remanded back to federal court for entry of an order   
   reinstating the Quest program at MCF pending a full adjudication of the   
   case on the merits.   
      
   https://www.courthousenews.com/split-eighth-circuit-revives-biblical-   
   manhood-course-in-minnesota-prisons/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)