We are about to find out.  The United States Supreme Court is set to decide whether it will hear the case of New Jersey High School Coach Marcus Bowden.  Bowden has asked the court to review a ruling from the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in April in which an appeals panel reversed a 2006 ruling that permitted Borden to silently bow his head and “take a knee” with his players as the team prayed. The judges said the school board’s policy barring school staff from joining in student-led prayer was constitutional. Coach Borden later quit the team rather than be prohibited from participating in team prayers.

Classic Establishment Clause separation of church and state issue. Should the Supreme Court take a new look at this issue?   Can the coach add his prayers to the mix for Jesus to help kick the game winning field goal?  It is an issue that has support on both sides.  The American Football Coaches Association held its annual convention  last month, and filed a petition supporting Borden’s case.  Its board also voted unanimously to support Borden.   The Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a civil liberties watchdog group based in Washington, D.C is lined up for a goal line stance on the other side.

Rob Boston, senior policy analyst for the group told the Tennessean. “The main message we’re trying to make to folks is that you just need to be careful about bringing any of these religions into school because the way you treat one is the way you must treat them all,”

If you look at previous Supreme Court decisions, it appears that Jesus will shank this one “wide right” when the Supreme Court rules.

In 2000, the court ruled that hat a Texas public school district policy permitting “student led” prayer at high school athletic events was unconstitutional, and violated the separation of church and state. The case was Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe. In finding that such a policy violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment the court stated:

“School sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community,”

Lower federal courts have also found that it is also unconstitutional for a school official, including a coach, to initiate or lead a team in prayer.

As we sit here today the law of the land is that the only type of public school prayer that is permitted is voluntary prayer presented and led by students without official permission or sanction provided that it is not coercive in any way.  Duncanville Independent School Dist., v. John Doe, 994 F. 2d 160 (5th Cir. 1993).   If coach Bowden stood there and prayed quietly to himself(which he certainly had the option, no harm no foul and Touchdown Jesus is back on the playing field.  By participating even passively in the voluntary team pre-game prayer, it will likely be looked at as a public “sanctioning” of the activity by a school official and therefore violative of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  My prediction is that the Supreme Court will refuse to hear his appeal.

I previously wrote an article entitled “The Legality Of Social Media Gaming”.   I analyzed a legal dispute between USocial and the social media giant Digg.  USocial is an Australia based company in the business of selling Diggs for money. They are in the business of gaming Digg.  I analyzed the Cease and Desist sent by Digg to USocial.  I looked at whether Digg would win a lawsuit against USocial or could shut them down through economic warchest superiority.  After writing the article I emailed USocial advising them that I was an attorney and had written about the case.  I asked if they would keep me updated as to any developments.  I received a very nice reply stating that they would be happy do so.  After not hearing anything for a month I once again wrote USocial asking for an update. I was not expecting to get anything more than a perfunctory response with the current status if I received any response at all.  I was surprised when  received an email basically laying out their position and admitting they use a software program to game Digg.  I contacted USocial to confirm that this information was already in the public domain.  I received a response that it was.  My article addressed most of the issues raised although I admittedly did miss the fact that USocial is based in Australia.  I have no experience in international jurisdiction issues or how any business USocial does with Diggers residing in the United States(if any)  would affect venue.  I will leave that one alone.  Digg could also go after those involved in the design and marketing of the software aruging that its sole purpose is to game Digg and whatever legal arguments go with that. As it appears that none of the involved parties lived in the United States, it is questionable whether Digg, being in the weak financial  it is would do anything unless it could get venue in the United States. Here is the email.  It is self-explanatory.

I purchased a new set of headphones at Best Buy. Mine died of natural causes. I am one of those people that cannot work out unless I am listening to something so it was imperative that I got a new set before my next workout. I thought I had it planned out perfectly. I would buy the headphones, run home, get my gym stuff and be ready to rock and roll!

I found a cool pair that I liked. I got them home. Everything was going as planned. I guess I never really noticed or thought about the fact that they were enclosed in this big thick plastic case. The kind that need to be opened with a phaser or a Jedi light saber. No big deal. I would just get the scissors out and I am ready to go. There were no scissors to be found.

So here we go… I ripped it with my hands, stomped it with my feet, tore it with my teeth, fed it to my dog, fed it to my cat, stabbed it, jabbed it, prayed over it and cursed it. It just smiled back at me laughing, still snugly encased in its plastic kryptonite home. Where is Superman when you need him? Finally in a fit of rage, I took a knife and wildly stabbed at. I completely missed it and impaled my hand. I screamed loudly and throw the package across the room. I heard my cat scream. I looked over and it had sliced off the end of her tail.

After I bandaged my hand, I picked up the cat and the headphones and headed for the vet. On the way to the vet I look at the headphones and they were still in their plastic case laughing at me. I decided that I would have the last laugh and tossed them onto the highway to face a gruesome end by tire squash.

I got my cats tail re-attached. I got my hand stitched and headed home. I was stopped at a red light and out of the corner of my eye I saw a homeless guy wearing my headphones and petting his cat. He was obviously smarter that I was!

I missed my workout.

Question to ponder? What is the point of these “kryptonite cases”? Medieval Chastity Belts were probably easier to break into. Somebody please tell me who invented it so I can send him or her my vet bill.

©2009 Brian Cuban

When I was about 6 months into the Alcoholics Anonymous program, one of the old timers pulled me aside.  He said, “Brian you really need to say you believe in god in the meetings“. I told him I was not comfortable with that as I was not sure how I felt on the subject.   He said “Brian, it does not matter. You have to just say it so everyone else in the group will feel better about it and you” I was not sure if I was in a fluid recovery program or being indoctrinated into a cult.   While I never went back to that particular meeting I was mindful of the fact that his beliefs were his alone and not those of the group.  I call this type of A.A member an “Alkazombie“.   A person who has been so “cultified” in his/her approach to A.A.  as to be almost oblivious to the real world around him/her.  The person spend all of his time attempting to “bite” new A.A members and turn them into Alkazombies.  I made sure he did not bite me.  That being said there are people who have reached such terrible lows and are so desperate for change that they need to become Alkazombies to survive.  I have no issue with that.  I do take issue which the philosophy that order to become a member of A.A and stay in a particular chapter you must become an Alkazombie.  That is a cult.  Here is another example of a Alkazombie.  This is a comment I received to my article, Is God An Alcoholic:

“Cuban, Its pretty simple you arrogant ass…   You are not alcoholic, give it up….  I don’t know why you feel you must state that you aren’t spiritual, your arrogance and complete lack of consideration for what happens to alcoholics who read your blog make that completely obvious…

This guy’s point is that anyone in AA and not doing it his way or the “Big Book” AA way should be “expelled”.    An example of someone who has embraced the cult aspects of A.A.   He is a classic Alkazombie.

Female Alkazombies

Does the AA philosophy encourage  Alkazombies and “cult- like behavior” in its thousands of chapters?  Perhaps the personality makeup of the specific chapter can cause the group to function like a cult.  I believe  that it is the very rare exception rather than the rule.  One of darker examples of how an AA chapter can lose its way and take on the status of a cult is illustrated in an article about an AA chapter in Washington D.C . The members of this chapter of AA encouraged younger female members to have sex with older male members. They encouraged members in to discontinue all ties with anyone who was not a member of the chapter.  When these allegations were made public, this group was disbanded as an AA sanctioned group. While this is the exception rather than the rule, with thousands of A.A chapters world wide, it would be naive to assume it is the only exception.

Is AA as an organization a cult?  As far as the traditional structure of a cult the answer would have to be no.  AA as an organization has no central authority.  No one is handing down edits and rules top down.  AA in fact other than requiring a person to have a desire to stop drinking to attend closed meetings for the most part has very few rules, only suggestions. Unfortunately Alkazombies  often try to enforce suggestions as formal rules of behavior scaring new members away.  The seminal book on this subject is AA: Cult or Cure by Charles Bufe.  He outlines  a litany of conditions as a whole in his opinion qualify AA as a cult. I am not going to debate his criteria. Words are like statistics—you form your opinion, then you make them fit the point you want to make.  I could take Bufe’s points and make a good argument that the Boy Scouts of America is a cult .

Any time you have people coming together in a group  you are going to have formal and informal criteria for membership even at the lowest level. You are going to have a common purpose. You are going to have strong personalities and weak personalities. You are going to have strong personalities that overwhelm and dominate weaker personalities. You are going to have weaker personalities who have to adopt the essence of the stronger ones to excel in the group. Does that happen in AA ?  Of course it does.  Does that happen in the Boy Scouts?  Sure it does.  Did that happen in my law school study group?  You bet.  Those attributes do not transform each of the aforementioned organizations into a cult.  They are simply the attributes of group dynamics. These personality issues however can be much more pronounced in self-help groups like AA.  No one is walking into an AA meeting because they are at a high point in their life.

When I walked into AA I was defeated.  I was  weak. I had lost my sense of self, self-respect, respect of my family. I was vulnerable.  I was naturally more open to suggestion that would put me on a new track of self-respect and sobriety.  In my cases while I did not take them all, the suggestions were for the most part healthy and in line with AA philosophy.  If I had walked into the Washington D.C chapter?  Who knows where I would be.  The point is that in groups without checks and balances this type of environment lends itself to the danger of domination by strong personalities with amoral motives .  These checks and balances are the members themselves who are different, diverse, and compassionate, looking out for each other and not trying to reform each other.  Individual AA chapters will always have their share of Alkazombies who think they know what is best for all and try to bite everyone.

So, is AA a cult? I don’t think so, but since each person has to make it work for them as an individual.  I can see how some people who fail at it would take solace in viewing it that way.  Of course, those who think it is a cult would argue that I am a “cult member” and cult members never think they are in a cult.  I can also see how people with personalities that are just not compatible with a core philosophy would not succeed in AA and view it as a cult.  Is there any group out there that does not have a core philosophy?   I suspect these people  probably have issues in any group setting in which conformity to certain standards is an element of reaching a common goal.  Is there any group out there where some level of conformity is not needed to reach a common goal?   If the common goal is a good thing there is nothing wrong with embracing it.  Just watch out for the Alkazombies.  They will get you if you are not careful!

Below are two diametrically opposed videos on AA One is by Bill W., one of the founders of AA and the other is an interview with author James Stanton Peele who argues that AA is a cult. A fascinating comparison in viewpoints.

Bill W. \

Dr. Stanton Peele