No Basis For Removing State Charges To Ecclesiastical Court

In Prather v. Governor of Washington, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49810 (WD WA, April 9, 2012), a Washington federal district court dismissed a civil rights lawsuit in which plaintiff claimed that state criminal proceedings against him alleging domestic violence and drug charges should have been removed to an ecclesiastical court.  Vincent Prather argued that "[t]he Bible forbids Christians from asserting or defending their rights in a secular court."  The court said that religious convictions do not exempt an individual from laws that are generally applied to all citizens.