No Bibles for Inmates
Henry here. CNN reports that “[Iowa]. A judge has ruled that a Bible-based prison program violates the First Amendment’s freedom of religion clause by using state funds to promote Christianity to inmates.”
I was shocked to read this announcement. The one book that prisoners were traditionally allowed to have was a bible. But as I read further it seemed that the concern was not with the use of the Bible as it was that prisoners who attended the Bible classes were given special treatment.
Trying to convert prisoners with Bible classes sounds to me like a glorified Sunday school class. What prisoners, and all the rest of us need, is to be loved, not indoctrinated.
I was a chaplain in a jail for two years. One thing stood out about the local clergy’s offerings for inmates. It was irrelevant. They did not take the time to get to know the people they were preaching to. The prisoners came to the chapel in droves as it was a break from the tedium of being in their cells, but they didn’t seem to resonate with the local pastors very much.
Inmates need to be related to, have their stories listened to, and be valued as people. Bible studies are a good place for this to happen but apparently not in Iowa.