MATTER OF GRIFFIN v. Coughlin

*677OPINION OF THE COURT

Levine, J.

On this appeal we hold that, under the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution’s First Amendment, an atheist or agnostic inmate may not be deprived of eligibility for expanded family visitation privileges for refusing to participate in the sole alcohol and drug addiction program at his State correctional facility when the program necessarily entails mandatory attendance at and participation in a curriculum which adopts in major part the religious-oriented practices and precepts of Alcoholics Anonymous (hereinafter A. A.). Thus, we reverse the order…