He's Christian. He's conservative and an activist. And he wants to be a lawyer.
But they said he cannot, because he's Christian, and that Christianity is a mental illness!
The bureaucracy that controls access to Indiana's legal profession believes that very thing, according to a lawsuit in which Brown alleges that he was subjected to a series of hostile religious and political questions during a review of his fitness to practice law - a review that subsequently rejected him on mental-health grounds.You know, I seriously doubt that they'd have denied a sexual-extremist activist or a devout Muslim their opportunity to practice law. They wouldn't dare call such folks "mentally unfit because of their beliefs". Never! Certainly they wouldn't deny such opportunity to a hard-left extremist activist. After all, they're obviously themselves hard-left extremists who believe that Christianity is a mental illness. Of course, they obviously didn't subject the obviously-extremist-activist Sonia Sotomayor to such an intrusive, hostile inquisition and certainly didn't call her crazy. Of course, they wouldn't dare, as, after all, she does fit with their dogmatic definition of "acceptable".
The lawsuit, filed by Brown himself this week in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, contends the Indiana Board of Law Examiners, created by the state Supreme Court in 1931 to screen bar applicants for character and fitness, ordered Brown - for reasons unknown - to appear before representatives of the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (JLAP) in January 2008. According to its Web site, the program “offers to help judges, attorneys and law students who experience physical or mental disabilities.”
(...)
Ross initially concluded that he had found nothing that “should preclude Mr. Brown from taking the bar exam,” but JLAP Clinical Director Tim Sudrovech allegedly added the conclusion that Brown's religious fervor “suggests a sub-clinical level of bipolar disorder which would warrant further consideration by a psychiatrist.”
The JLAP then referred Brown to Indianapolis psychiatrist Elizabeth Bowman, who concluded he suffered from a personality disorder after questioning him about the Arch Angel Institute's religious beliefs and his own “religious arrogance.” Bowman mocked his Christian “pro-life zeal,” Brown claims, and questioned his interpretation of Scripture. “If admitted to the Indiana bar he would likely continue his anti-abortion activities,” according to a portion of her report quoted in the lawsuit.
They're picking on Bryan Brown because he's Christian. They're saying he's crazy because he's Christian. They're saying he can't be a lawyer because he has beliefs they disagree with.
It's discrimination, pure and simple. It's Christianophobic hatred and contempt. And they're probably going to get away with it. Unless, of course, Christians aggressively stand up for their rights and won't take no for an answer.
This is unconstitutional. They have violated Bryan Brown's Constitutional rights.
This cannot and must not stand!
After all, hey, if it's ok to simply, arbitrarily deem someone insane just because you disagree with their beliefs, then anyone from any group will be fair game in the future.
This is dangerous... very, very dangerous.
Slippery slope, y'know.
