This one is beyond puzzling. The Bureau of Prisons has assembled a list of “acceptable” religions books. That means that in prisons across America libraries are being stripped of religious texts not on the approved list. You couldn’t have sold this one in a bad novel.
The NYT reports:
The Bureau of Prisons said it relied on experts to produce lists of up to 150 book titles and 150 multimedia resources for each of 20 religions or religious categories — everything from Bahaism to Yoruba. The lists will be expanded in October, and there will be occasional updates, Ms. Billingsley said. Prayer books and other worship materials are not affected by this process.
The lists are broad, but reveal eccentricities and omissions. There are nine titles by C. S. Lewis, for example, and none from the theologians Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth and Cardinal Avery Dulles, and the influential pastor Robert H. Schuller.
The identities of the bureau’s experts have not been made public, Ms. Billingsley said, but they include chaplains and scholars in seminaries and at the American Academy of Religion. Academy staff members said their organization had met with prison chaplains in the past but was not consulted on this effort, though it is possible that scholars who are academy members were involved.
The bureau has not provided additional money to prisons to buy the books on the lists, so in some prisons, after the shelves were cleared of books not on the lists, few remained.
I am trying to imagine the person who first suggested that the Bureau of Prisons come up with “approved” religious texts. Now I am trying to imagine the person who said, “Gee, that is a great idea.” And now I am trying to imagine any step in a process that seeks to limit the religious literature in a prison.
I struggle to imagine such utter and complete nonsense.
Yes there are some “religious” books in a prison that could create problems. And yes, the people in prisons are in a prison and not in a library. They lead highly regulated lives – to put it mildly.
But it seems to me that an abundance of religious literature is not a real problem. It is not, for instance, religion that landed them in jail.
Hopefully the Bureau of Prisons will wake up and realize the errors of their ways – here is hoping that they do a penance of sort.
posted September 10, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Well, let me take a crack at possible reasonable thinking.
Prisons are (typically) government institutions covered by the establishment clause of the constitution and at the same time, the custodian of the people inside. Someone might argue, therefore that there is a need to provide appropriate faith resources such as hymnals, scripture, liturgical texts. A theological text might or might not be appropriate depending on how anti-social or positive it is. The government should not provide evangelical screeds and needn’t provide every theological resource, so maybe someone thought they would provide only interpretive or exegetic works that don’t include anti-social or divisive conclusions. This might be done less efficiently negatively (look for offensive or anti-social messages in all religious books) than positively (have a commission select a broad cross-section of theology with a positive message.
That said, I’m baffled, too. But it has been my experience that even in government what sounds ridiculous is usually at least plausible if you know the reasons behind the decision.
posted September 10, 2007 at 7:10 pm
They are trying to do something about Radical Islam and skinhead Christian Identity gangs. Rod has a similar blog post going.
posted September 10, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Just setting all of us up for the mark of the beast.
It’ll start in the prison system first.
posted September 10, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Now, let me see – theology is too dangerous for our brutal and gang ridden prison system? C.S. Lewis is a favorite, but removing Dulles and Niebuhr? With this kind of mentality – they will remove books by Ratzinger and leave books by Pope Benedict. This is one the ACLU might want to become involved in.
I’m rather horrified. I understand the need to eliminate books that advocate violence in a prison, but not those that advocate thinking.
There isn’t a reasonable place for this kind of figurative book burning.
If I could give books to prisoners – I would start with Joseph Cardinal Bernardin’s “the Seamless Garment”. I might send a bunch of copies of Gil Bailie’s “Violence Unveiled”. Pretty sure both would be banned by the prison boards.
posted September 11, 2007 at 11:54 am
“Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured” (Heb 13:3).
David, you struggle to understand how this could happen. It happened because too many of us forget that prisoners are part of the Body of Christ too.
Peace.
posted September 11, 2007 at 3:32 pm
>>>”Just setting all of us up for the mark of the beast.
It’ll start in the prison system first.”
Good to see you’re up to speed with your “Left Behind” books, Donny.
Speaking of which, did they make the prison list cut?
It not, does that mean we are now truly in the last daze?
And, by the way, is it true that Wheaton, Illinois, is changing it’s telephone area code to 666?