Mexico religious cult refuses to allow teachers in

[cbayer]

http://www.boston.com/news/education/2012/08/22/mexico-religious-cult-refuses-allow-teachers/PWXYyw0lHbLvaZvzdDeuzH/story.html

By MARK STEVENSON
The Associated Press / August 22, 2012

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Adherents of a religious sect in western Mexico are physically blocking school teachers from entering their walled community, setting up one of the most high-profile confrontations between religious and civil authorities in Mexico since the 1930s.

Local officials in the western state of Michoacan said Wednesday it may be time to call in a large-scale police operation to enforce the right to schooling in a community that has largely ruled itself according to what it considers biblical guidelines for almost 40 years. The New Jerusalem community prohibits formal schooling, television, radio, modern music, dress and fashion.

‘‘I think the next step is to go in and enforce the rule of law,’’ said Efrain Barrera, spokesman for the township of Turicato, where the sect’s walled-off compound is.

Under Mexican law, grade school education is compulsory, and Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission and the Roman Catholic Church said Tuesday that the refusal to allow classes in New Jerusalem is a violation of children’s human rights.

more at link

[get the red out]

1. Nobody would care in the US

Freedom of religion here trumps all those everyday freedoms for individuals.

[cbayer]

3. I think you are right to some extent.

If the community were providing it's own education and met the guidelines of the state, it would probably be left alone.

But if a group were destroying the public schools and physically attacking the teachers in the community, as is happening here, I think they would get quite a bit of attention.

This is looking like a Waco situation, which a lot of people cared about.

So freedom of religion does not always trump everyday freedoms for individuals.

[DURHAM D]

2. Very interesting read -

"The church does not recognize the sect, which was founded in 1973 by a renegade Catholic priest who objected to the abandonment of Latin masses and other modernization moves."

and this -

"In July, gangs of sect followers used sledgehammers to destroy three government school buildings in the community, then doused them with gasoline and set fire to the school furniture and computer equipment."