Prison is a time of hell. However, the idea of religious conversion in prison has been part of Christianity since the beginning. The good thief converted on the cross; Paul did a fair amount of preaching during his stints in the hole; Pastor Neimuller and Dietrich Bonhoffer are examples of the potential of salvation behind bars. So, Crusader AXE is endlessly amused by this one. We have the faith based junta, I mean, err, administration that does everything it can to promote religion (Fuck the constitution, pass out the bibles) but then does...this. "Behind the walls of federal prisons nationwide, chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries." I find this just wonderful, like the time 35 years ago I was in a theatre at college (Holy Cross) when it was still all men, and we were watching Christopher Lee as Dracula writhe in pain and horror when impaled on a silver cross; 500 guys screaming "Go Cross Go!" Well, we'd had a really lousy football season, and the basketball team was looking flakey too...so, this was about all we had to yell about.
Of course, I suspect the problem is not Martin Buber's Ich und Du or John Knox's History of the Church in Scotland. It's possible that the poetry of Daniel Berrigan or Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail are included, but I suspect we're talking about the Koran. We'll see how this plays out over time. However, I seem to recall language that says something about establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Bill of something...there's also the 14th Amendment, promising equal protection. Born again Christian programs make it incumbent to allow access to Muslims as well.
As a Tiffanist, of course, I don't have a dog in this parade. However, I wouldn't have found Tiffany as my understanding of the singularity that started this mess we call existence without Buber, and Knox and King and Berrigan...so, since I believe that the theft of anyone's constitutional rights is a theft of mine, this amuses at the same time it angers me. As it should you...
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