DOCSLIB.ORG

Should Religious Fundamentalists Be Held Culpable for Their Crimes? an Analysis of the Psychological and Societal Effects of Hyper-Religiosity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Should Religious Fundamentalists Be Held Culpable for Their Crimes? an Analysis of the Psychological and Societal Effects of Hyper-Religiosity SHOULD RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS BE HELD CULPABLE FOR THEIR CRIMES? AN ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIETAL EFFECTS OF HYPER-RELIGIOSITY by Giuliana Maria Natale A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Wilkes Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a Concentration in Law and Psychology Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University Jupiter, Florida May 2016 SHOULD RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS BE HELD CULPABLE FOR THEIR CRIMES? AN ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIETAL EFFECTS OF HYPER-RELIGIOSTY by Giuliana Maria Natale This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisors, Dr. Mark Tunick and Dr. Laura Vernon and it has been approved by the members of their supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of the Wilkes Honors College and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences. SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: __________________________ Dr. Mark Tunick __________________________ Dr. Laura Vernon __________________________ Dr. Jeffrey Buller Dean, Wilkes Honors College __________________________ Date ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Laura Vernon and Dr. Mark Tunick for guiding me throughout my research and bringing their expertise in two different fields together. I would also like to thank Dr. Wairimu Njambi for encouraging me to speak my mind no matter what, especially on issues regarding the history of religion. She is a driving force behind my motivation to write this thesis. Also, a special thanks to Troy, for whom I am inexplicably grateful. iii Abstract Author: Giuliana Natale Title: Should Religious Fundamentalists be Held Culpable for Their Crimes? An Analysis of the Psychological and Societal Effects of Hyper-Religiosity Institution: Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisors: Dr. Mark Tunick and Dr. Laura Vernon Degree: Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Science Concentration: Law and Psychology Year: 2016 My research was used to determine if religiously-motivated criminal offenders should be held culpable and how offenders should be punished in a court of law. Some who commit religiously motivated crimes do not do so of their own volition (e.g., those born into a cult), some are not legally competent to stand trial, and some qualify to claim insanity by both legal and psychological standards. Psychological and social pressures exerted by cults (e.g., deindividuation) can interfere with moral and legal reasoning of the offender. I argue that only those individuals with awareness of the legality of their actions and ability to freely choose their actions should be held culpable for religiously-motivated crimes. iv Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………......1 Chapter 1: What is Religious Fundamentalism?..................................................................2 Chapter 2: The Psychological Effects of Hyper-Religiosity……………………………....5 Chapter 3: The Dangers of Hyper-Religiosity….………………………………………..17 Chapter 4: Religiously Motivated Crime...………………………………………………26 Chapter 5: Should Religiously Motivated Offenders be held Criminally Responsible?...36 Chapter 6: How Should Religiously Motivated Offenders be Punished?..........................47 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….56 References………………………………………………………………………………..57 v Introduction First and foremost, the objective of this thesis is not to demean religion, but rather to explore the effects religious extremism has on the mind and society at large. Religion is often used as a coping mechanism and rehabilitative tool in prisons. However, for some individuals, it is what caused them to end up in prison. Very few people who have committed religiously motivated crimes have been found “not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.” Never has hyper-religiosity been considered a mental disease or defect, or simply “insanity” in a court of law. However, in recent years, there has been a lot of discussion by neuroscientists and psychologists in regard to hyper-religiosity being legally considered insanity. By no means does this mean religious individuals are insane; the key emphasis throughout this thesis is on extremism. Throughout this thesis, I will discuss the psychological effects of religious extremism from pathological and social psychology perspectives, and how these effects can be dangerous to society at large. The psychological effects of religious extremism can cause people to commit atrocities; but whether or not they should be held culpable, depends on a number of things such as psychopathology, volition, and cognizance. Keywords: religion, extremism, crime, culpability, insanity 1 Chapter One: What is Religious Fundamentalism? Religious fundamentalism occurs when interpretations of religious texts and religious practices are taken to an extreme. Although fundamentalism holds a wide variety of meanings today, its historical origin is very specific. ““The term fundamentalist first emerged from early twentieth century America, when conservative Christians published a 12-volume series of books entitled The Fundamentals, which sought to provide a wide-ranging assertion of orthodox Christian belief against liberal Protestantism and an increasingly modernist culture” (Kunzman 2010, p. 18). The terms “evangelical” and “fundamentalist” were synonymous in American society until the 1940’s. The original fundamentalists are said to be Conservative Christians; they have “certainly made their presence felt in American culture, but fundamentalism obviously exists and thrives in many religions today across the globe” (Kunzman 2010, p. 19). The core of religious fundamentalism “pushes back against what it perceives as an increasingly secular culture, striving to remain separate from that culture while seeking to restore religion to its rightful, central place in society” (Kunzman 2010, p. 19). Religious fundamentalists tend to shelter themselves and their children from the outside world; this includes public schools, playgrounds, public healthcare facilities, and other social gatherings. Of course not all parents who homeschool their children are religious fundamentalists, but religious fundamentalists often homeschool their children. “While all good parents strive to protect their children in a variety of ways, conservative Christians see much of contemporary culture as an assault on the values they seek to 2 impart to their children (Apple, 2005; McDannell, 1995; Stevens, 2001)” (Kunzman 2010, p. 23). According to Kunzman, Conservative Christian fundamentalists believe that the self-education of their children is their “God-given right.” This notion applies to other areas as well, such as medical care and child discipline, which is thoroughly discussed in chapter three. Oxford dictionary defines fundamentalism as “the practice of following very strictly the basic rules and teachings of any religion”; they also offer a secondary definition: “(in Christianity) the belief that everything that is written in the Bible is completely true.” This is a basic definition of a broad ideal. Religious fundamentalists completely commit themselves to their religion or their interpretation of their religion, even if this means killing themselves or other people. Not all fundamentalists are physically violent; however, extremists often torment people emotionally or make threats of violence. The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is well known in the United States for causing disruptions at private events. For example, the WBC has rallied outside the funeral of deceased soldiers holding signs saying “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” They have held signs and chanted “God Hates Fags” outside of businesses which welcome gay patrons, among many other radical things. In interviews, they have stated they firmly believe gay individuals as well as many other individuals, with whose lifestyle they disagree, will “burn in hell and feel God’s wrath.” This is a mild example of fundamentalism. Women’s health clinics that provide abortion services are often victim of religious fundamentalists. 3 Fundamentalists such as Reverend Mike Bray have bombed clinics with the intention of killing the doctors and surgeons because they genuinely believe they are doing “God’s work.” One may ask, “but doesn’t the Bible say thou shall not kill?” Which is an interesting question; there are also verses in the Bible, such as Deuteronomy 13:6- 10 which command you to kill your family member(s) if he or she entices you to worship another god1. There are psychological processes and explanations behind these beliefs and actions. 1 “If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (NIV) 4 Chapter Two: The Psychological Effects of Hyper-Religiosity Cults and other social influences: In this section, I will discuss how the dynamic of a cult can
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Everyday Geopolitics of Messianic Jews in Israel-Palestine
    Title Page The everyday geopolitics of Messianic Jews in Israel-Palestine. Daniel Webb Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London. Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD, University of London, 2015. 1 Declaration I Daniel Webb hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Date: Sign: 2 Abstract This thesis examines the geopolitical orientations of Messianic Jews in Jerusalem, Israel-Palestine, in order to shed light on the confluence and co-constitution of religion and geopolitics. Messianic Jews are individuals who self-identify as being ethnically Jewish, but who hold beliefs that are largely indistinguishable from Christianity. Using the prism of ‘everyday geopolitics’, I explore my informants’ encounters with, and experiences of, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the dominant geopolitical logics that underpin it. I analyse the myriad of everyday factors that were formative in the shaping of my informants’ geopolitical orientation towards the conflict, focusing chiefly on those that were mediated and embodied through religious practice and belief. The material for the research was gathered in Jerusalem over the course of sixteen months – between September 2012 and January 2014 – largely through ethnographic research methods. Accordingly, I offer a lived alternative to existing work on geopolitics and religion; work that is dominated by overly cerebral and cognitivist views of religion. By contrast, I show how the urgencies of everyday life, as well as a number of religious practices, attune Messianic Jewish geopolitical orientations in dynamic, contingent, and contradictory ways.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature and Significance of Culpability
    Criminal Law and Philosophy https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-018-9476-7 ORIGINAL PAPER The Nature and Signifcance of Culpability David O. Brink1 © Springer Nature B.V. 2018 Abstract Culpability is not a unitary concept within the criminal law, and it is important to distinguish diferent culpability concepts and the work they do. Narrow culpability is an ingredient in wrongdoing itself, describing the agent’s elemental mens rea (pur‑ pose, knowledge, recklessness, and negligence). Broad culpability is the responsibil‑ ity condition that makes wrongdoing blameworthy and without which wrongdoing is excused. Inclusive culpability is the combination of wrongdoing and responsibil‑ ity or broad culpability that functions as the retributivist desert basis for punishment. Each of these kinds of culpability plays an important role in a unifed retributive framework for the criminal law. Moreover, the distinction between narrow and broad culpability has signifcance for understanding and assessing the distinction between attributability and accountability and the nature and permissibility of strict liability crimes. Keywords Accountability · Attributability · Broad culpability · Culpability · Fair opportunity · Inclusive culpability · Narrow culpability · Responsibility · Retributivism · Strict liability Moral psychology and criminal jurisprudence share several important concepts, such as responsibility, excuse, blame, and punishment. Even if these shared concepts Thanks to audiences at the University of California, Davis, the University of California,
    [Show full text]
  • The United States Supreme Court Adopts a Reasonable Juvenile Standard in J.D.B. V. North Carolina
    THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ADOPTS A REASONABLE JUVENILE STANDARD IN J.D.B. V NORTH CAROLINA FOR PURPOSES OF THE MIRANDA CUSTODY ANALYSIS: CAN A MORE REASONED JUSTICE SYSTEM FOR JUVENILES BE FAR BEHIND? Marsha L. Levick and Elizabeth-Ann Tierney∗ I. Introduction II. The Reasonable Person Standard a. Background b. The Reasonable Person Standard and Children: Kids Are Different III. Roper v. Simmons and Graham v. Florida: Embedding Developmental Research Into the Court’s Constitutional Analysis IV. From Miranda v. Arizona to J.D.B. v. North Carolina V. J.D.B. v. North Carolina: The Facts and The Analysis VI. Reasonableness Applied: Justifications, Defenses, and Excuses a. Duress Defenses b. Justified Use of Force c. Provocation d. Negligent Homicide e. Felony Murder VII. Conclusion I. Introduction The “reasonable person” in American law is as familiar to us as an old shoe. We slip it on without thinking; we know its shape, style, color, and size without looking. Beginning with our first-year law school classes in torts and criminal law, we understand that the reasonable person provides a measure of liability and responsibility in our legal system.1 She informs our * ∗Marsha L. Levick is the Deputy Director and Chief Counsel for Juvenile Law Center, a national public interest law firm for children, based in Philadelphia, Pa., which Ms. Levick co-founded in 1975. Ms. Levick is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University School of Law. Elizabeth-Ann “LT” Tierney is the 2011 Sol and Helen Zubrow Fellow in Children's Law at the Juvenile Law Center.
    [Show full text]
  • Insufficient Concern: a Unified Conception of Criminal Culpability
    Insufficient Concern: A Unified Conception of Criminal Culpability Larry Alexandert INTRODUCTION Most criminal law theorists and the criminal codes on which they comment posit four distinct forms of criminal culpability: purpose, knowl- edge, recklessness, and negligence. Negligence as a form of criminal cul- pability is somewhat controversial,' but the other three are not. What controversy there is concerns how the lines between them should be drawn3 and whether there should be additional forms of criminal culpabil- ity besides these four.' My purpose in this Essay is to make the case for fewer, not more, forms of criminal culpability. Indeed, I shall try to demonstrate that pur- pose and knowledge can be reduced to recklessness because, like reckless- ness, they exhibit the basic moral vice of insufficient concern for the interests of others. I shall also argue that additional forms of criminal cul- pability are either unnecessary, because they too can be subsumed within recklessness as insufficient concern, or undesirable, because they punish a character trait or disposition rather than an occurrent mental state. Copyright © 2000 California Law Review, Inc. California Law Review, Incorporated (CLR) is a California nonprofit corporation. CLR and the authors are solely responsible for the content of their publications. f Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego. I wish to thank all the participants at the Symposium on The Morality of Criminal Law and its honoree, Sandy Kadish, for their comments and criticisms, particularly Leo Katz and Stephen Morse, who gave me comments prior to the event, and Joshua Dressler, whose formal Response was generous, thoughtful, incisive, and prompt.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Choice Violence and Intimidation
    Anti-Choice Violence and Intimidation A campaign of violence, vandalism, and intimidation is endangering providers and patients and curtailing the availability of abortion services. Since 1993, eight clinic workers – including four doctors, two clinic employees, a clinic escort, and a security guard – have been murdered in the United States.1 Seventeen attempted murders have also occurred since 1991.2 In fact, opponents of choice have directed more than 6,400 reported acts of violence against abortion providers since 1977, including bombings, arsons, death threats, kidnappings, and assaults, as well as more than 175,000 reported acts of disruption, including bomb threats and harassing calls.3 The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) provides federal protection against the unlawful and often violent tactics used by abortion opponents. Peaceful picketing and protest is not prohibited and is explicitly and fully protected by the law.4 State clinic protection laws in 16 states and the District of Columbia, as well as general statutes prohibiting violence, provide additional protection.5 Although the frequency of some types of clinic violence declined after the 1994 enactment of FACE, violence at reproductive-health centers is far from being eradicated.6 Vigorous enforcement of clinic-protection laws against those who use violence and threats is essential to protecting the lives and well-being of women and health-care providers. Abortion Providers and Other Health Professionals Face the Threat of Murder MURDERS: Since 1993, eight people have been murdered for helping women exercise their constitutionally protected right to choose.7 . 2009: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller.
    [Show full text]
  • Counterterrorism CHAPTER 13 the Options
    Counterterrorism CHAPTER 13 The Options OPENING VIEWPOINT: THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN Al-Qa’ida founder Osama bin Laden was killed during a individual. Based on other surveillance and circumstantial intel- raid by United States naval special forces on May 2, 2011, in ligence information, officials surmised that Osama bin Laden Abbottabad, Pakistan. The successful attack by a unit popularly resided at the compound with his couriers and their families. known as SEAL Team Six ended an intensive manhunt for the Options for assaulting thedistribute compound included a surgi- most wanted terrorist leader in the world. cal strike by special forces, deploying strategic bombers to The successful hunt for Osama bin Laden originated from obliterate the compound, or a joint operation with Pakistani fragments of information gleaned during interrogations of pris- security forces. Theor latter two options were rejected because oners over several years beginning in 2002. Believing that bin of the possibility of killing innocent civilians and distrust of Laden retained couriers to communicate with other operatives, Pakistani security agencies. Approximately two dozen SEAL interrogators focused their attention on questioning high-value commandos practiced intensely for the assault, and were targets about the existence and identities of these couriers. temporarily detailed to the CIA for the mission. A nighttime This focus was adopted with an assumption that bin Laden and helicopter-borne attack was commenced on May 2, 2011. other Al-Qa’ida leaders would rarely communicate using cellpost, The courier al-Kuwaiti and several others were killed during phone technology as a precaution against being intercepted by the assault, and women and children found in the compound Western intelligence agencies.
    [Show full text]
  • Patterns of Global Terrorism 1999
    U.S. Department of State, April 2000 Introduction The US Government continues its commitment to use all tools necessary—including international diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence collection and sharing, and military force—to counter current terrorist threats and hold terrorists accountable for past actions. Terrorists seek refuge in “swamps” where government control is weak or governments are sympathetic. We seek to drain these swamps. Through international and domestic legislation and strengthened law enforcement, the United States seeks to limit the room in which terrorists can move, plan, raise funds, and operate. Our goal is to eliminate terrorist safehavens, dry up their sources of revenue, break up their cells, disrupt their movements, and criminalize their behavior. We work closely with other countries to increase international political will to limit all aspects of terrorists’ efforts. US counterterrorist policies are tailored to combat what we believe to be the shifting trends in terrorism. One trend is the shift from well-organized, localized groups supported by state sponsors to loosely organized, international networks of terrorists. Such a network supported the failed attempt to smuggle explosives material and detonating devices into Seattle in December. With the decrease of state funding, these loosely networked individuals and groups have turned increasingly to other sources of funding, including private sponsorship, narcotrafficking, crime, and illegal trade. This shift parallels a change from primarily politically motivated terrorism to terrorism that is more religiously or ideologically motivated. Another trend is the shift eastward of the locus of terrorism from the Middle East to South Asia, specifically Afghanistan. As most Middle Eastern governments have strengthened their counterterrorist response, terrorists and their organizations have sought safehaven in areas where they can operate with impunity.
    [Show full text]
  • Global War on Terrorism and Prosecution of Terror Suspects: Select Cases and Implications for International Law, Politics, and Security
    GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM AND PROSECUTION OF TERROR SUSPECTS: SELECT CASES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW, POLITICS, AND SECURITY Srini Sitaraman Introduction The global war on terrorism has opened up new frontiers of transnational legal challenge for international criminal law and counterterrorism strategies. How do we convict terrorists who transcend multiple national boundaries for committing and plotting mass atrocities; what are the hurdles in extraditing terrorism suspects; what are the consequences of holding detainees in black sites or secret prisons; what interrogation techniques are legal and appropriate when questioning terror suspects? This article seeks to examine some of these questions by focusing on the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), particularly in the context of counterterrorism strategies that the United States have pursued towards Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) since the September 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington D.C. The focus of this article is on the methods employed to confront terror suspects and terror facilitators and not on the politics of cooperation between the United States and Pakistan on the Global War on Terrorism or on the larger military operation being conducted in Afghanistan and in the border regions of Pakistan. This article is not positioned to offer definitive answers or comprehensive analyses of all pertinent issues associated with counterterrorism strategies and its effectiveness, which would be beyond the scope of this effort. The objective is to raise questions about the policies that the United States have adopted in conducting the war on terrorism and study its implications for international law and security. It is to examine whether the overzealousness in the execution of this war on terror has generated some unintended consequences for international law and complicated the global judicial architecture in ways that are not conducive to the democratic propagation of human rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Shooting at CIA HQ Remains a Mystery
    Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 20, Number 9, February 26, 1993 had successfully penetrated an intelligence operation involv­ ing Israeli, Chinese, and Russian age"ts. According to pub­ lished accounts, Darling may have been involved in supply­ ing arms to CIA-backed Afghan Mujiahideen rebels during the 1980s. If the shootings were actually aimed at Darling (he was Shooting at CIA HQ shot three times, whereas all the other victims were only shot once), the question then emerges: Was the "hit" carried remains a mystery out by one of the three intelligence agencies cited above? An assassination in broad daylight, outside the main gate of by Jeffrey Steinberg CIA headquarters, is quite a provo¢ative act, and could trigger the kind of bloody intelligence warfare that often characterized the tensest moments of the Cold War. Even though the FBI and Fairfax County, Virginia police have identified a Pakistani national, Mir Aimal Kansi, as the A lot of blue smoke and mirrors man who shot five people outside the main gate of the CIA Predictably, the American media have had a field day at Langley on Jan. 25, many crucial questions about the speculating about the suspected killer Mir Aimal Kansi. terrorist incident remain unanswered, and many experienced Among the most bizarre features of hiS profile is his employ­ observers believe that the mystery will never be solved. Dur­ ment by a courier service owned by the son of former CIA ing the Monday morning rush hour on Jan. 25, a man armed official Victor Marchetti. A former executive assistant to the with a rifle walked down a row of cars stopped at a traffic deputy to CIA director Richard Helms, Marchetti quit the light on Route 123 just outside the main headquarters of the agency in 1969 and wrote one of the earliest exposes of U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • 9-11 and Terrorist Travel- Full
    AND TERRORIST TRAVEL Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 9/11 AND TERRORIST TRAVEL Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States By Thomas R. Eldridge Susan Ginsburg Walter T. Hempel II Janice L. Kephart Kelly Moore and Joanne M. Accolla, Staff Assistant Alice Falk, Editor Note from the Executive Director The Commission staff organized its work around specialized studies, or monographs, prepared by each of the teams. We used some of the evolving draft material for these studies in preparing the seventeen staff statements delivered in conjunction with the Commission’s 2004 public hearings. We used more of this material in preparing draft sections of the Commission’s final report. Some of the specialized staff work, while not appropriate for inclusion in the report, nonetheless offered substantial information or analysis that was not well represented in the Commission’s report. In a few cases this supplemental work could be prepared to a publishable standard, either in an unclassified or classified form, before the Commission expired. This study is on immigration, border security and terrorist travel issues. It was prepared principally by Thomas Eldridge, Susan Ginsburg, Walter T. Hempel II, Janice Kephart, and Kelly Moore, with assistance from Joanne Accolla, and editing assistance from Alice Falk. As in all staff studies, they often relied on work done by their colleagues. This is a study by Commission staff. While the Commissioners have been briefed on the work and have had the opportunity to review earlier drafts of some of this work, they have not approved this text and it does not necessarily reflect their views.
    [Show full text]
  • Planned Parenthood V. American Coalition of Life Activists and the Need for a Reasonable Listener Standard
    Touro Law Review Volume 29 Number 2 Article 13 October 2013 Speech as a Weapon: Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists and the Need for a Reasonable Listener Standard Alex J. Berkman Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/lawreview Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Society Commons, Medical Jurisprudence Commons, and the Privacy Law Commons Recommended Citation Berkman, Alex J. (2013) "Speech as a Weapon: Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists and the Need for a Reasonable Listener Standard," Touro Law Review: Vol. 29 : No. 2 , Article 13. Available at: https://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/lawreview/vol29/iss2/13 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Touro Law Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Touro Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Touro Law Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Speech as a Weapon: Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists and the Need for a Reasonable Listener Standard Cover Page Footnote 29-2 This comment is available in Touro Law Review: https://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/lawreview/vol29/iss2/13 Berkman: Speech as a Weapon SPEECH AS A WEAPON: PLANNED PARENTHOOD V. AMERICAN COALITION OF LIFE ACTIVISTS AND THE NEED FOR A REASONABLE LISTENER STANDARD Alex J. Berkman* ** I. INTRODUCTION On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed at his church in Kansas.1 Prior to his death, Dr. Tiller, one of the nation‘s only late-term abortion providers, was regularly targeted by anti- abortion extremist groups.2 Along with other physicians, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Jerusalem Syndrome: Religious Mania and Miracle Cures in British Mandate Palestine1
    Beyond Jerusalem Syndrome: Religious Mania and Miracle Cures in British Mandate Palestine1 Chris Wilson In 1937, Dr. Heinz Hermann, the medical director of Ezrath Nashim (“Women’s Help”), a private Jewish mental hospital in Jerusalem, published an article on “Jerusalem fever” (Jerusalem-Fieber) in Folia clinica orientalia.2 Based in Tel Aviv and granted a publishing license in September 1937, the German- and English-language medical journal proved a short- lived affair, eclipsed by the success of the Hebrew-language medical journal Harefuah (“Medicine”) among European Jewish doctors in Palestine. But Hermann’s argument, that there was a distinct psychiatric condition linked to the uniquely holy city of Jerusalem, would go on to enjoy a long career, repackaged and popularized later in the century as “Jerusalem syndrome.”3 Grounded in his clinical experience of the numerous prophets and messiahs who could be found wandering the streets of Jerusalem in the 1930s, the idea that a particular place could be mentally dislocating chimed with some contemporary trends in the history of the psy-sciences, particularly psychoanalysis, when Hermann published his piece in 1937. No less a figure than Sigmund Freud had just penned an open letter to Romain Rolland, in which he reflected on his own moment of “derealization” on a trip to the Acropolis in 1904. At a remove of thirty years, Freud boiled down the essence of the experience to a sense of incredulity at reality. “By the evidence of my senses,” he wrote, “I am now standing on the Acropolis, but I cannot believe it.”4 Hermann the psychiatrist had good reason to be cautious about tapping into psychoanalytic thought.
    [Show full text]