Theocracy makes a comeback, one step at a time

[Pah]

From The Morning Call -- February 20, 2005

Paul Carpenter
Theocracy makes a comeback, one step at a time

Complete Article

It seems, however, that Bradford County was not able to keep out the evil of theocracy permanently. As reported Friday, two rights groups are seeking a court order to stop county jail officials from indoctrinating inmates, at taxpayer expense, with religious dogma.

The Associated Press said inmates are pressured to pray and are proselytized by the Firm Foundation of Bradford County, hired by county officials to provide religious activities at the jail. Firm, the AP said, ''embraces a strong Christian philosophy,'' hires Christians, exclusively, to run the program, and uses inmates to work on its local church.

It was claimed that participation is voluntary, but I imagine volunteerism in a jail is about as valid as it is in the military. In any case, there is nothing voluntary about forcing taxpayers to pay for the government's establishment of Christian dogma in Towanda.

Authorities can get away with this kind of treason only when they have the support of the nation's top government official, who wants to abrogate the First Amendment with his phony ''faith-based initiatives'' approach to government-sanctioned religion. In 2003, in fact, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives specifically gave its blessing to the Firm Foundation's program. Since then, Firm has raked in more than $320,000 in taxpayer money.

 

[Yerda]

And pah's crusade for the separation of church and state continues. Good work man.

 

[robtex]

I was amazed when I worked for the county how many people found God while in prision and/or jail. The inmates have bible studies carry Bibles and have personal revelations while incarcerated. I wasn't working for the system long enough to really understand the debt of it but I did make a few causal observations.

1) Many of the employees, well over 85 % were very deeply religious and Christian. I saw more pictures of Jesus's on desks more Bibles and more Bible studies at work (on taxpayer dollars by the way) there than I had ever seen in my life. Rest assured imates notice this while in the system just as surely as I did. I never worked for a jail or a prision so I don't know if they are the same way from an employee standpoint but the guards at the courthouses have the same Christian attitude. Those guards work for the same group as the prision and jail guards.

2) Morality was connected to accepting Christ by the immates on a regular basis. Many of them came from hispanic or black cultures (most of the incarcerated population here in austin is black and hispanic i understand that is the norm in many places).

3) the drug and rehab programs, mostly AA have a very strong Christian message and the immates are required to attend them by the courts after their release and probably during their incarceration.

4) Many of the ex immates I met (and I met a lot of them) wanted to, or at least expressed an interest in becoming a minister or priest. Sex offenders never made mention of this to me or my co workers.

5) Other religions such as buddihsim Judiasm Muslim and hinduims were non existant in as far as trinkets pictures or jewelry on co workers desk with the exception of one pagan who had a "secure" office--meaning access to it was restricted to inner department and few people from the department went in there.

6) With the above 5, when the incarcerated were interacting with the staff of the courts and post confinement institutions (and very likely the jailers) they were openly encouraged to accept Jesus as their savior.

 

[michel]

So, robtex, are you implying that the interest sparked into religions was as a result of the agencies helping Alcoholics and Drug users?

 

[robtex]

So, robtex, are you implying that the interest sparked into religions was as a result of the agencies helping Alcoholics and Drug users?

I am saying that an inmates existance in the system (which includes incarceration, proabtion parole ect) is emersed within a sea of Christianity from the other inmates staff and support groups mandated by the courts...at least here locally but from what I read it seems to be the truth nationally too. Where they pick the interest up I (we) can only guess but at any time they are in the system they are surround by Christanity for better or for worse.

Actually the number of judges that seem to want the 10 commandments in the courtroom seems natural to me as I have seen how heavily our justice system is dipped in Christianity.

To answer your question the agencies do have an impact but the fellow immates spread more Christianty amoungst themselves while on the inside. So much so that from an inmate I met who is doing time for selling cocaine (entry level pusher), their is a inner animosity between converts in the system and Christians who were incarerated after accepting Christ as their savior. This guy was a pre-incarceration Christian and hated being lumped into the same boat as a convert when he preached to the other immates from his Bible.