A church that claimed to absolve the sins of male worshipers through sexual intercourse with female priestesses is nothing more than a scam intended to hide the operation of a brothel, a federal judge said Thursday.
District Court Judge William M. Byrne Jr. The Tracys, convicted of prostitution charges last September, said the Constitution guaranteed that they could practice what they claimed were ancient religious rites. During six days of testimony, Will Tracy, 52, said he received a revelation from God in to re-establish a religion once practiced in ancient Egypt. His wife testified that, according to the revelation, she was required to have sex with 1, men to achieve her status as high priestess of the church.
Male worshipers were required to make donations of cash or services to the church to participate in the rituals. The Tracys, who acted as their own attorneys, called the donations religious sacrifices. The issue before the court, Byrne said, was not whether the religion did or did not exist.
He could rule, he said, on whether the Tracys exhibited a sincere belief in the doctrine they preached. Byrne also said that even if the Tracys were sincere in their beliefs--and he conceded that was a possibility--there is a compelling public interest to control such activities, regardless of the religious intent. He cited a recent U. Supreme Court ruling against two American Indian drug counselors who were fired from their jobs after admitting that they had taken peyote in what they said were ancient religious rituals.
The court held that the Constitution does not permit people to break the law in the name of religious freedom. The Tracys were convicted of running a house of ill fame, a misdemeanor, last September, and Mary Ellen Tracy was convicted on one count of prostitution.
