Church or Jail?

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I think it's unconstitutional... And I'm from that section of Alabama AND I go to church with jail inmates...

When I was a judge, I did sentence one miscreant to watching 20 hours of PBS children's programming. I didn't think that church would have done him any good, as he was already a regular church-goer.

In retrospect, I should have ordered his mother to verify the completion of the 20 hours. I suspect that he actually spent the time watching Fox News.

As an atheist, if I ever commit a crime I will be happy to accept 1 hour/week of going about my life without interference from invisible boogeymen as an alternative to jail

Once more, an example of the nefarious alliance between the New Right and the Vultures for Jesus.


New right smashes the social welfare functions of The State so that it cannot administer rehabilitation programs. The job of rehabilitaiton is transfered to the "Third Sector" - containing various charities and churches. Churches, against all other organizations, have the built-in advantage that it's easy as cake to get Tax Exemption if you're a major religion while organizations like the Richard Dawkins Foundation have to jump through various hurdles. Religious Charities and Churches - alreadty the most common charitable organization - pick up the State's slack.

Various Churches induce a new kind of small-mindedness among prisoners, nonviolent drug offenders, or poor/homeless people. Literal crack cocaine is replaced with the crack cocaine of the masses - Fundie religion. Evolution gets denied, populist leftwing movements fail to gain mass appeal due to "cultural divisons" over religion (Forgetting prsioners, for a moment, law-abiding homeless people and even the working poor get services from various Vultures for Jesus. Losing the working poor is a major blow to any left-populist movement.), etc.

The New Right - Religious Right are truly a nefarious duo.

I think it should be community service not jail. If they wish to serve their service at a church, that's good. But it really screws over any atheist offenders.

The whole point of the idea is MORALS!

Morals aren't taught in jail, community service, school or many homes anymore. It's an attempt to instill a moral compass. Exposure to it won't hurt anybody. Sometimes the 'non-constitutional" argument is literally paper thin...

I really like pandabear's idea of sentencing people to watch children's shows on PBS.
There would have to be a select list, though. Shows like "Word World" or "Sesame Street" wouldn't do much to rehabilitate someone unless they needed to learn to read.
I'm thinking "Barney" and "Berenstein Bears" would be good options, as they primarily teach responsible social interaction.

On a side note, I know of a homeless shelter that will not allow people to stay there unless they sign a paper stating that they are Christian. 'Cause I'm sure that's what Jesus would do.

I personally like this idea, I'd much rather go to church every Sunday than play with the courts. Having played with the courts before...

As far as seperation of church and state, couldn't one possibly just go a Unitarian Universalist church or something to that effect? Where you could just be an atheist or agnostic?

I don't know, I guess I can see the constitutional implications of such a policy, but at the same time, you don't realize that as a criminal, they ARE taking away your rights as punishment. That is the basis of criminal punishment here in America, forfeiting of rights. Unfortunate, but true. So whether or not we're going to play with forfeiting religious rights, that's another ball game. Also, keep in mind, it can work both ways, ie, sex offenders a lot of times can't go to church. What about people on house arrest, don't they deserve the right to go to church, too? Two sides of the same coin.

I got more to say, but I gotta go.