Atheist inmate Jeremy Zielinski says the eclipse is a way to "celebrate science and reason"

Six inmates are suing the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) claiming that keeping them locked up during the upcoming eclipse violates their religious freedom.

On Monday afternoon, the moon will temporarily block out the Sun in a total solar eclipse. While the event itself isn’t rare, the length of the eclipse and the locations where it can be seen make it a must-see event. A total eclipse like this one hasn’t been seen in New York in nearly a century.

The six plaintiffs, all incarcerated at Woodbourne Correctional Facility, say that the eclipse “is a religious event that they must witness and reflect on to observe their faiths.” That includes atheist Jeremy Zielinski, who says the event is a way to “celebrate science and reason.”

Mr. Zielinski firmly believes that observing the solar eclipse with people of different faiths is crucial to practicing his own faith because it is a central aspect of atheism to celebrate common humanity and bring people together to encourage people to find common ground. 

He went even further in a separate declaration:

… I believe that by celebrating the curiosity behind discoveries like astrophysics and the ability to know precisely when an eclipse will occur, we can inspire even more penetrating inquiries—issues like the nature of time, of life, of human connection, of matter and consciousness and how they relate, and similar areas of inquiry that, we hope, our descendants will wonder at why we didn't explore sooner.

…

It’s for this reason I believe that what I've referred to as Eclipse Day simply, absolutely, unavoidably, must be a multifaith event. Whatever their mistakes—and this includes Atheism—the world’s great religions all have this much in common: They seek truth because they recognize its divinity. Every religion worthy of the name originated in a single individual becoming aware of some greater part of reality than their contemporaries were capable of perceiving…

… The most effective way to identify the areas of darkness we most need to explore, to disseminate awareness of how to enlighten them quickly, is to bring as many people as possible together who've exercised their faith not in the same way, but in different ways.

…

The eclipse I seek to observe with others is fleeting, an event that will be gone in a cosmic instant, barely measurable against infinite time. But that same fleetingness makes it valuable in as large a degree as its duration is brief. Moments when people of vastly different faiths converge in a single shared joy are exceedingly rare. The price of missing any is unknowable, but substantial by any measure.

That point is echoed by the other plaintiffs, who say the eclipse is a chance to pray like the Prophet Muhammad did, or to experience what Jesus saw before getting crucified, or necessary to cause the “vibrations of the Orishas… to bless those who pray and chant.”

Whether or not you believe any of that doesn’t matter. The men all say these are their sincerely held religious beliefs, therefore they must be accommodated.

The Department of Corrections, however, says everyone needs to be locked up during that time for the sake of safety.

In the case of Zielinski, he requested the opportunity to watch the eclipse earlier in the year, but he was told that the prison needed to first recognize atheism as an official religion, a move that could take up to 120 days. (Well past the day of the eclipse.) He was quickly given the confirmation he needed and was told the prison would give him special glasses to view the eclipse. Problem solved!

But when Zielinski asked to watch the eclipse with his peers, the lawsuit says, the Department of Corrections responded by issuing a lockdown order for all prisons under its purview between 2:00p and 5:00p on Monday in order to keep everyone safe—presumably because you don’t want too many prisoners outside in the dark. No one will be allowed to leave their units except in case of emergencies… which effectively prohibits all inmates from seeing the eclipse. Even if Zielinski is granted an exception, though, he argues that isn’t enough.

That’s because the lockdown order violates he and his colleagues’ rights under the Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA&rdquo.

For example, when another inmate, Travis Hudson, a Baptist, also asked to see the eclipse, he was told he could not because “the solar eclipse is not a recorded holy day for Baptists in the facility’s calendar.”

Zielinski then stepped in again, saying that his inability to see the eclipse with his buddies violated his religious freedom. He added that the DOCCS didn’t have the right to decide which events mattered to people of faith based on their own calendar.

When a Muslim inmate and two others who practice Santeria made similar requests, they were also denied. (The sixth inmate, a Seventh-day Adventist, never received a response to his request.)

The bottom line is that everyone says their religious beliefs are now being violated. This class action lawsuit is the only way to remedy the problem before it’s too late.

So far, the DOCCS isn’t budging:

In a statement, DOCCS spokesperson Thomas Mailey said the ban was for the safety of the prison population. He did not elaborate on the reasoning behind the decision. The department will provide solar eclipse safety glasses for its staff and inmates in case they can “view the eclipse from their assigned work location or housing units,” Mailey said.

In case they can see it! But if they can’t because they’re locked up in their cells, too damn bad.

This case will have to be resolved quickly. But regardless of the outcome, you have to give credit to Zielinski for using religion as a way to override whatever safety concerns the DOCCS has. Christians do it all the time; why not argue that preventing an atheist from witnessing a scientific phenomenon is just as important?

It’s not like the prisons can’t stay safe during those hours. There are protocols in place when inmates are allowed outside their cells—including the time when the Sun is setting anyway—and those rules could be enforced (or modified accordingly) even during an eclipse.

[Plaintiffs’ attorney Chris] McArdle said the department had failed to adequately explain why the eclipse was a safety concern.

“There’s some level of darkness every night when the sun goes down, so they should know how to deal with that,” he said, noting there was no such directive for the partial solar eclipse in 2017.

A department spokesman declined to elaborate on why additional safety precautions were deemed necessary during the eclipse, saying in a statement that the department does not comment on pending litigation.

I’ve seen some criticism online that this case ought to be tossed out because we’re talking about criminals, as if inmates shouldn’t be able to experience nice things. But they’re in prison. They’re paying for their crimes. They still have rights. That includes the right to practice their faith. If government officials want to get in the way, they need to have a damn good reason.

That’s why the nature of their crimes is irrelevant here. No one’s saying these men aren’t guilty of what they did. (And they have definitely done some heinous things.) If anything, giving prisoners a chance to witness something like this could incentivize them to behave well and learn more. And isn’t rehabilitation what we ultimately want from our prisons?

If the law grants people special rights on account of their faith, no one should be surprised when prisoners use the same loophole to experience something incredible.