Plan B Forum

“God makes all things new,” Mr. Ellison wrote in bright green ink. “The weirdest thing is how do I come out as straight after all this time?”

To his family and friends, Mr. Ellison’s professed identity change was just one of many clues that something had gone wrong at the program, Teen Challenge, where he had been sent by a judge as an alternative to jail.

In a letter to his sister, Mr. Ellison described being “de-gayed” by the Christan-run substance abuse program he was attending. Credit Michael Corkery/The New York Times

But when his family sued Teen Challenge in 2012 hoping to uncover what had happened, they quickly hit a wall. When he was admitted to the program, at age 20, Mr. Ellison signed a contract that prevented him and his family from taking the Christian group to court.

Instead, his claim had to be resolved through a mediation or arbitration process that would be bound not by state or federal law, but by the Bible. “The Holy Scripture shall be the supreme authority,” the rules of the proceedings state.

For generations, religious tribunals have been used in the United States to settle family disputes and spiritual debates. But through arbitration, religion is being used to sort out secular problems like claims of financial fraud and wrongful death.

Yet some lawyers and plaintiffs said that for some groups, religious arbitration may have less to do with honoring a set of beliefs than with controlling legal outcomes. Some religious organizations stand by the process until they lose, at which point they turn to the secular courts to overturn faith-based judgments, according to interviews and court records.

“Religious arbitration, at its best, ensures that people can resolve their disputes in accordance with deeply held religious beliefs,” said Michael A. Helfand, an associate professor at Pepperdine University School of Law and an arbitrator in a rabbinical court in New York. “But both religious communities and courts need to make sure that the protections the law has put in place to make it a fair and unbiased process are actually implemented.”

“My faith is still strong,” she said. “But I am more careful in dealing with Christians than I used to be. They are just people with no more ability to be good than anyone else.”

Scientology moved to force Mr. Garcia’s case into arbitration. The process seemed like a farce, he said. An arbitration run by a panel of Scientologists, his lawyers argued, could not possibly be impartial. As a declared suppressive, Mr. Garcia was considered a pariah. Church members who interacted with him risked being harassed, according to court papers filed by his lawyers.

“The hostility of any Scientologists on that panel is not speculation,” his lawyers argued. “It is church doctrine.”

“My faith is still strong,” she said. “But I am more careful in dealing with Christians than I used to be. They are just people with no more ability to be good than anyone else.”

It's not Sharia law we need to worry about ....

Young Afghan woman stoned to death for eloping with man her own age

A young woman in Afghanistan, who is believed to be between the ages of 19 and 21 years old, was stoned to death after being accused of adultery, authorities there said on Tuesday. The woman was identified only as Rokhsahana and a graphic video surfaced depicting the horrors of the barbaric crime. The footage, which runs 30 seconds in length, shows Rokhsahana trapped in a hole in the ground as about 15 men — Taliban, local warlords and religious leaders — stand around pelting her with rocks. As the men viciously hurl the rocks at Rokhsahana, she can be heard screaming out the shahada, a Muslim profession of faith. Her screams become increasingly desperate as the damage inflicted by the stones overwhelms her. The savage killing reportedly occurred last week just outside the capital of the Ghor province, and was, according to officials, punishment for eloping with a man her own age — a crime seen as equivalent to adultery by some in Afghanistan. Rokhsahana’s parents had previously married her off to an older man, against her will. The man whom she eloped with was released after being given a lashing.

In addition to serving as a chilling reminder of life under Taliban rule, the crime echoes another horrific case earlier this year in which a 28-year-old woman named Farkhunda was killed by an angry mob after being falsely accused of burning the Koran. Four men were sentenced to death for their roles in that crime and several others were jailed for not intervening.

Iranian actress who posted photos online not wearing a hijab forced to flee country
An actress from Iran has gone on the run after igniting a backlash by posting photos of herself on social media showing her not wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim head cover. Sadaf Taherian began posting the controversial photos on Facebook and Instagram over the last two weeks and the response from Iranians was as swift as it was extreme. In an interview with Masih Alinejad, a journalist who runs a Facebook page called “My Stealthy Freedom,” which features photos and videos of Iranian women walking in public with their heads uncovered, Taherian reportedly said she was initially “nervous” about the reaction the images might trigger. Indeed, many Iranians lashed out at Taherian with insults and called her “immoral.”

Then, the Iranian government piled on, officially denouncing Taherian as an “offender.” When another popular actress came to Taherian’s defense on social media, a spokesman for Iran’s ministry of culture and lslamic guidance said the two actresses would be barred from acting. “As far as this ministry is concerned, these two individuals are no longer considered to be artists any more and do not have any right to act,” said Hossein Noushabadi. The popular TV show starring Taherian was abruptly pulled from the state television network schedule.

Noushabadi went on to question their psychological health, called for them to apologize to the people of Iran and said the two women face legal action. “I did not expect this from the people of Iran, from my own culture. To hear so many insults — I honestly cannot respond to them in the same way. I can only feel sorry for their reaction and I have nothing else to say,” Taherian told Alinejad. “I want to live in a place and live the way that makes me happy.” Right now, that place is the United Arab Emirates, where Taherian is said to be taking asylum. Chekame Chaman-Mah, the actress who publicly defended Taherian, is believed to have also fled the country.

On Wednesday, Taherian continued to post photos of herself not wearing a hijab — her first post on Facebook since October 31. The image, two side-by-side selfies of her in a gym wearing workout clothes, is accompanied by the brief message that translates roughly as “Sport = Health.”

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