As John Cougar Mellencamp once asked, "Ain't that America?"
The latest example of something I will have to explain to friends who live in other countries is that prisoners in New York have filed a lawsuit against their hosts, the Department of Corrections, who have wisely decided to lock down the lockups during this coming Monday's solar eclipse.
The basis for the suit is that being confined in their semi-private suites will "violate inmates' constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event."
In the spirit of incarcerated ecumenism, six men from five religious backgrounds put up the papers. The opening line is, "A Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist, two creyentes (believers) in Santeria, as well as an atheist walk into the warden's office..."
I'm not knocking anyone's religion here. It's understood that a solar eclipse is a rare event, with meanings in many faiths, but people who are in prison are there because they have forfeited the right to participate in Christmas tree lightings, Easter egg hunts, family seders, and home gatherings for all sort of religious observances.
No religion lists "A solar eclipse" as a standard holiday on the state registry of such things.
The eclipse will be total or almost so in western parts of New York on Monday, when, at about 3:15 PM. the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun, shading out the sun and turning Monday afternoon into Monday night for a little while.
Listen up, inmates. There will be another eclipse in August, 2044. Try not to be in local, state, or federal custody then, and it's all yours.
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