BATON ROUGE, La. (RNS) Officials at a Louisiana prison, already under fire for allegedly denying Catholic and Muslim inmates access to religious materials, have agreed to remove a biblical reference from a monument outside the prison gates.
Cathy Fontenot, a spokeswoman at the maximum-security State Penitentiary at Angola, said officials submitted work orders to have what was known as the “Philippians Monument” stripped of the religious references after a complaint was lodged last year by the Louisiana arm of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The monument featured a verse taken from Philippians 3:13 dealing with “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”
Fontenot said the language will remain, but the verse’s citation will be removed.
On the opposite side of the book-like monument, there was a “Prayer of Protection,” which the ACLU complained about and is being removed.
The prayer reads: “The light of God surrounds you/The love of God enfolds you/The power of God protects you/And the presence of God watches over you;/Wherever you are, God is.”
Fontenot said that side of the monument will be filled with artwork or a more secular inspirational message.
Angola Warden Burl Cain said he chose the location by the prison’s entrance gates to help with the “moral rehabilitation” of new inmates “arriving at Angola to see that their past stopped when they entered the gates of Angola … It advises them we are not going to look at the past; to let it go and begin change for the better.”
Marjorie Esman, the state ACLU’s executive director, told Cain that the ACLU “supports you in your efforts to encourage prisoners to look forward toward changing their lives for the better; we expect those efforts to be conducted in a way that will not endorse one religion over another or religion over non-religion.”
The ACLU last week filed suit against Cain and other officials after two inmates — one Catholic, one Muslim — said they were denied access to worship services and religious materials.
By Ed Anderson
Copyright 2009 Religion News Service.All rights reserved.No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted February 9, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Good.
posted February 9, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Excellent!
posted February 9, 2009 at 7:22 pm
The Muslim and the Catholic should not be denied their religious material by the Prison. It’s good that the the ACLU will stand up for them. The scripture on government property has raised it’s head again. Maybe the Prison doesn’t understand the difference between state and religion. It doesn’t mean to eradicate it period. Can a prisoner say to another prisoner God is always with us, to help him feel better or does he have to whisper it? Should he ask if he is a believer before trying this so he doesn’t get punched in the face, I wonder. Why is 2009 so complicated? Must be the people living at this time.
posted February 9, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Prisoners can say whatever or express their faith however they choose. It’s another thing when prison officials-representatives of the government-make religious statements intended to apply to inmated who may or may not be religious. It’s one thing to quote applicable scripture, perhaps alongside ann appopriate secular quote. It’s quite another to make an outright affirmation of God, as appeared on the other side of the monument.
posted February 9, 2009 at 9:02 pm
OK, the monument has been corrected – it’s too bad none of the inmates can see it. Now, it is quite appropriate for the inmates of other religions to have equal access to their appropriate religous materials. Just as I would expect no racist or revolutionary Christian material would be allowed, the same would be true for any othr religion. Beyond that, preventing the access to these materials is unlawful.
posted March 9, 2009 at 3:52 pm
My son is in Angola and had to fight for years to be allowed to have any material referencing Wiccan Religion. He stood his ground and finally is able to get books I send to him.