By Hemant Mehta

After his arrest last month on charges of drug possession, Taylor Bast was told by his parole officer that he had to take part in a substance abuse program or he could end up in jail.

The only problem was that the three programs offered to him were all religious, and Bast is a non-theistic Buddhist. He rightly says the state is coercing him to participate in a faith-based program or he’ll be punished, even though secular substance abuse programs are readily available. He also has to “provide formal documentation proving his Buddhist and philosophical convictions” — something you can bet no Christian ever has to do.

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