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In Religious Arbitration, Scripture is the Rule of Law

Ecija, Norman Joye A.

“Religious Arbitration ensures that people can resolve their disputes in accordance
with deeply held religious belief.” This statement tells us the essence of this kind of
arbitration- religious arbitration. The Bible shall be the supreme authority. The outcome of the
proceedings shall be based on the scripture. Under this principle, disputes are resolved
through a process that allows people of faith to work out problems using shared values,
achieving not just a settlement but often a reconciliation. I believe that this kind of arbitration
should be utilized on certain or specific kinds of disputes. Religious arbitration should be
used on cases involving morality and gross violations of religious practices. Also, i do not
believe that this will work on some kind of disputes. Hence, before using this kind of
arbitration, it is a must that certain conditions must be met.

Both the religious communities and the 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.
This is one of the limitations of this kind of arbitration. It must not be used to defer a fair
judgment and its outcome should not be prejudicial to any of the parties. The outcome should
be in line with the principles of the Bible and at the same time, it must not be a cause of
violation of rights of other parties. Ultimately, to achieve the best outcome out of this
arbitration, its authority must not be used excessively. There must be no abuse of authority to
speak of while keeping in line the conditions and limitations that must be followed.

In the article, a case was given portraying a situation where they used religious
arbitration to malign one’s right to justice. In 2012, Nick Ellison, a 20-year-old, instead of
going to jail, was sent by a judge to ‘Teen Challenge’. It is a place that gives substance
abuse programs in Florida, run by Christians. He had a drug and alcohol problem, but what
the program did to him, according to a letter he wrote before taking a toxic mix of drugs
which kills him later on, was “de-gay” him. It would also be discovered later on that the
program included “free labor” which tasked them to work odd jobs, instead of being given
treatment. They were also barred from communicating with their families and friends. His
family sued Teen Challenge, hoping to uncover what really happened. But they hit a wall
because when Ellison was admitted, he signed a contract that now his family from taking the
Christian group to court. His claim had to be resolved through mediation or arbitration that
would not be bound by state law, but by the Bible. One Scientologist protested that she was
being forced to go to arbitration run by a religion she no longer believed in. Ellison’s mother
went through the religious group’s arbitration, which droned on for more than 2 years. She
finally agreed to settle when she felt like she had been neglecting her other children in the
process. Without a court trial, she was never able to learn what happened to her son, not just
on the night he died, but during his stay at Teen Challenge.

The incident is so heartbreaking. Nick entered into a contract for religious arbitration.
So, the family was forced to enter into an arbitration to settle the dispute. However, such
arbitration was used to cover up the dirty and dark actions of the institutions rather than to
give the justice that his family deserves. It is sad to learn that religion is being used to cover
up sins that was committed.

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