Because Plaintiff's request for pastoral visits appear at this initial stage of the litigation to be a protected religious exercise, and because Defendants do not challenge the sincerity of Plaintiff's religious beliefs, Plaintiff need only prove that the denial of the pastoral visits was a “substantial burden” on his “exercise of religion” in order to show a substantial likelihood of success on the RFRA claim. Plaintiff has argued that the denial of pastoral visits from Reverend Rickard is a “substantial burden” because Reverend Rickard is particularly well-suited to provide religious assistance to Plaintiff. Reverend Rickard, Plaintiff explains, is a Christian minister who is also familiar with the spiritual culture of Japan, Plaintiff's homeland. If Plaintiff is able to prove these allegations with evidentiary support, he will have satisfied his prima facie burden to prove that the denial of the visits was a “substantial burden” under RFRA, which adopts a protective standard for prisoner religious rights.
See generally 139 Cong. Rec. S14,465 (daily ed. Oct. 27, 1993) (statement of Sen. Hatch) (“[E]xposure to religion is the best hope we have for rehabilitation of a prisoner. Most prisoners, like it or not, will eventually be returning to our communities. I want to see a prisoner exposed to religion while in prison. We should accommodate efforts to bring religion to prisoners.”);
id. at S14,466 (statement of Sen. Dole) (“[I]f religion can help just a handful of prison inmates get back on track, then the inconvenience of accommodating their religious beliefs is a very small price to pay.”);
id. (statement of Sen. Hatfield) (“Mr. Colson's prison ministries group, which has successfully rehabilitated many prisoners, has been denied access to prisoners in Maryland ... who did not identify themselves as [P]rotestants.... [This is an] example[ ] of the need for us to pass this bill without this amendment [which would exclude prisons from RFRA].”);
cf. Ward v. Walsh, 1 F.3d 873, 878 (9th Cir.1993) (finding that the opportunity to engage in private prayer was not an adequate alternative to denial of access to an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, denial of the ability to congregate with other Orthodox Jews for prayer and discussion, and denial of a kosher diet). Plaintiff has not, however, submitted any evidence, in the form of affidavits or otherwise, supporting his contention concerning the particular attributes that make Reverend Rickard so well-suited for Plaintiff. Thus, this issue must be remanded to allow Plaintiff an opportunity to provide evidentiary support for his claim.