Cathy Kopasek

SUING THE FLORIDA DMV FOR VIOLATING RELIGIOUS BELIFS?????

How and why was this law suit allowed to be disputed in a court of law? The judge that allowed it should be responsible for reimbursing the state the total cost that it will be expended to take this to court.

It couldn’t be more simple, maybe judges, lawyers and others of that profession are so caught up in legalities, big words, tons of research and crossing every “ T “ and dotting every “ I “ to see the simplicity of this law suit. In other words their minds have become too complex to clearly see the simplicity of what is being presented before them.

The first thing I want to know is the woman from another country? If so did it not require a passport with a photo to get into the USA? Has anyone asked to see her passport? If they did and she has one, it stands a good chance that low and behold it displays a mug shot of her face. If so she did not mind going against her religion in order to get out of her miserable country. That was probably a very small price to pay in order to go to a country where she has the freedom to choose. In America she now has the freedom to drive a car. A freedom I would assume not available to Muslim woman living in predominately Muslim countries of the Middle East.

All of that is still not the ruling here. The simple plain factual ruling that would have kept this from ever going as far as it has is simply this:

In order to maintain some control and order in this wonderful country of ours it is necessary that certain requirements be placed in order to do certain things or be allowed certain privileges. Driving a car and having a license to do so is a privilege. However, that privilege has certain requirements attached that must be complied with. One of those requirements is that your photograph must be displayed on your license. If this is one of the requirements of obtaining a drivers license and taking a photograph is against your religious beliefs then you have the freedom (your American right) to choose if you want to go against your beliefs and obtain a license so that you can legally drive, or you have the right to choose not to drive because it is a privilege and convenience that is not worth doing if it means that she would have to go against her religious beliefs. No one has violated her right to practice her beliefs. She has chosen to do something that in order to comply with the requirements she will have to go against her religious beliefs. Our country is about freedom, and one of the freedoms we are able to enjoy is the freedom to choose. If you choose to be a model as your career path, then before you made that choice you were aware that the job duties involve having your face photographed without a veil. If your religion does not believe in being photographed and you chose to be model anyway, then you would be going against your religion. Your rights to practice your religion have not been violated. No one forced you to make that career choice. You chose it freely. You chose it knowing that you would have to go against your beliefs in order to carry the job duties that are required. Therefore, you would have to raise the question to yourself “how strongly do I believe in my chosen religion?” If I am willing to go against my religion in order to enjoy the exciting career of a model, then perhaps I should reconsider my religion. That scenario is the same as choosing to drive or not. Driving is great because you have the freedom to get from one place to another without depending on other people, taxis, or public transportation. If you know that a photo ID is required in order to get a drivers license and you do not want to commit the sin of having your face photographed then your choice is obvious. If the first and foremost priority in all of the decisions you make about your life is your religion, then you have to sacrifice the enjoyment and luxury of being able to legally drive. There are many sacrifices that a person has to make in any religion if they don’t want to go against their religious beliefs. If you choose to drive knowing you will have to sin to get a license, then you are going against your religious beliefs. No one is violating your right to practice your beliefs. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

She is going against her beliefs if she wants to drive. Her rights have not been violated, on the contrary she fully exercised her rights when she was allowed the freedom to chose if she wants to go against her beliefs or not. A freedom of choice that is more than likely not available in many of the predominately Muslim countries of this world. Woman have no freedom to chose at all in those countries. They probably aren’t allowed to drive either. If she is from another country that does not allow woman any rights at all then having the right to chose if she wants to legally drive or not is probably more rights than she would ever have in countries that are predominately Muslim. However, being given that right she must consider what is required in order to be licensed before she makes her decision.

There are so many scenarios that could be presented that make this whole law suit a travesty and insult to our country. For instance there were tribes in South America that it was their religious belief to eat the meat of humans. We know them as cannibals. What if there are still people practicing this religion that live in the USA? What if they killed someone so they could practice their religious belief? Would we have to make murder no longer against the law so that anyone practicing cannibalism could do so and their right to practice their religion would not be violated? Should people who practice Satanism be allowed to participate in human sacrifices? We have to draw a line here. If we don’t then all of our laws could be challenged. Anyone can make up a religion with beliefs that are practiced. We must have law and order in our country so it doesn’t become out of control and a horrible place to live like many countries around the world. Law and order, requirements, licensing, permits, and civil codes are all in place to maintain order and protect the way of life that were are accustomed to. When we start allowing people to challenge those laws, requirements, licenses, permits and civil codes then we will begin losing the control that is in place to preserve our way of life that is envied all around the globe. Can you imagine how much money law suits of this nature could cost our government? It could break our entire country. This has to be stopped now. It needs to be nipped in the bud now. They need to quit allowing the tax payers of Florida’s money from being spent on this ridiculous joke of a law suit. The judges and lawyers need to look at the law suit in a more simplistic way. How could anything so simple get so complex? I wish this letter could get to the judge and the lawyers involved. Furthermore, the lawyer that is representing this woman is a sleaze and doesn’t deserve the right to continue living in this country, or the right to be a citizen of the greatest country in world. At least his license to practice law should be revoked and he should be remove from the bar association. I hope members of his profession shun him.

Sincerely,

Cathy L. Kopasek
An American and proud of it

Toto

There's already a thread on this in the Politics Forum (perhaps it should have been moved here)

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...threadid=54576

The woman is a convert, and is taking her new "religious" beliefs to an extreme. But the courts in this country do not judge the reasonableness of religious beliefs (or none of them would qualify), and religious practices do have some protection under the First Amendment.

I predict she will lose the case.

edited to add: imprecations against her attorney are out of place. (It sounds like you saw the Ramirez editorial cartoon in the LA Times.) Disputes such as this need to be resolved in the proper setting, which is federal court.

dangin

I think she might win the case until the first female suicide bomber (in the US) hides bombs under that kind of clothing and blows up a food court. Then watch, civil liberties be damned, you can't wear that shit anymore.

catmar

Cathy - to answer your question - from what I have read ( I live in Florida - yuck - not a native), she is American-born, was a Christian and converted to Islam. Check Yahoo for articles.

dangin

When you hear her speak she sounds like a midwesterner.

Jewel

I guess Christianity just wasn't oppressive enough for her tastes. I hope the judge throws the case out.

Toto

TheSmokingGun.com came up with a mug shot of her from when whe was arrested for child abuse:

unveiled photo

Another connection between religious fundamentalism and child abuse.

Tony

This case is ridiculous. I agree 100% it shouldn’t be in court.

It’s like the dentist in “Jerry Seinfeld” who converted to Judaism just for Jewish jokes.

I think I know why she’s doing it - she needs to hide her identity to continue to abuse children and law.

It’s a good cover. Literally. She doesn’t need a ski mask anymore. She can hide not only explosives, but AK-47 and probably even a small bazooka under this cover.

Just an idea – if her religion prohibits her to show her face, is it possible to take an x-ray of her brain? The only problem is that police will have to scan her head every time they stop her. With such amount of radiation she’ll mutate to something really horrible.

If she wants to be 100% religious person, she shouldn’t drive at all. At the beginning of automobile and other self-moving vehicles era all these things were considered Satan and evil.

I’m sure that none of religions have any info about cars. Therefore, if someone is really religious, they shouldn’t drive. If god doesn’t permit it – it shouldn’t be used.

Who knows how god will react to religious person doing something that is not specifically discussed in the original religious book? If I was religious – I would be afraid of doing something that is not approved by god.

I’d better walk my whole life than burn in hell for eternity.

Sabine Grant

My concern about that case is that religious individuals who have genuine claims in a court of law to exercise their religious rights may find themselves " mocked" as a result of this woman's unjustified claim.
As a US citizen ( also as a legal alien if she were) she is to comply with the " laws of the land".
Her religious preference should not prevail over any legal status. Submission to the government is clearly indicated to those who are christians in the NT. It would be interesting to see if Qr'am teaches any submission to governmental laws. That would be my angle if I were to counter her claim.

Sabine Grant

Considering the level of anti islamic feeling in the US, I doubt a suicide bomber would exhibit any relation to any overt islamic demonstration whether it be clothing or even distributing Q'ram... it was shown that some of the perpetrators of the WTC attack while preparing in Fla. purposefuly blended in american lifestyle including consumming alcohol in a local bar.
People of middle eastern origine are considered suspicious.... american converts to islam are looked upon as potential supporters of islamic terrorism.
Shortly after the WTC attack, a simple gas station employee was shot by some red neck just because he was wearing a turban.