I’m tired of hearing about the case of Jose Merced. For those of who you haven’t heard of it, I’ll give you a quick summary.
He practices Santeria The town he lives in — Euless, Texas — had bans regarding possession of livestock, disposal of animal remains, etc. Some of these bans prevented him from performing sacrifices as part of the religion. An anonymous caller reported to the police that he was illegally sacrificing goats in his backyard. The police and animal control came to investigate. He was told he couldn’t perform sacrifices — even if it was a part of his religion. Because he couldn’t perform sacrifices, he felt the bans infringed on his religious rights. The case went to court. He was told that if he wanted to perform the sacrifices, it would need to be somewhere else. He appealed. He won. An injunction was made on the Euless ban affecting his practices. Unless the injunction is overturned (by the Supreme Court or whatever), he can sacrifice the animals for the religion without fear of being arrested or fined for it.
I know, I know… It’s an important case. It’s just that there has been so much coverage of it over such a long time period. I just hope that’s the end of it.
