Should Federal prisons ban religious books from library jails?

No

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by Jeremy Jameson

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Prisoners give up some of their rights when they commit crimes which land them in prison, but the freedom of religion guaranteed in our Constitution should not be one of them. Secular thinkers fear religion because they simply don't understand it. They make arguments about the viability of religions as though usefulness should dictate whether something is allowed to exist. But what is useless to one person can mean the world to another, so who has the right to decide in this post-modernist society that an absolute truth can be found in this regard? Live and let live.

Suppose we ban religious books from jail libraries. What does that accomplish? Just because federal prisons are run by the government does not mean that the prisoners held within must be devoid of religion. I don't even know how people think the phrase "separation of church and state" - which by the way is not found in the Constitution - means that the state must eradicate all traces of religion from within. Our government is made of people and people are allowed to have their world views and ideologies as they are convicted. But let's get back to the main issue: the prisoners are not part of our government anyway! The inferences behind this question are absurd.

Furthermore, aside from this notion of separating church and state, what harm does it do (whether you believe in the validity of religions or not) for the prisoners to have or adopt beliefs? Most followers of religion are called upon to coexist peacefully with their fellow man and obey the laws of their land. Contrary to secular belief (yes, even the secular believe in some things), mainstream religion does not create anarchic monsters. Rather, anarchic monsters who claim to certain religions either "follow" them in their own perverted ways or simply don't; either way they merely make a bad name for the faith they claim to have.

Finding or reconnecting with a faith in prison can be a redeeming experience for the prisoner. It can give him something to hope for in his dismal circumstances. He still has to serve his time (which may be for life or until his execution), but that time in prison could be spent more constructively (or at least peacefully), which even a secular pragmatist can see would be good for the prison administration (e.g. less negative behaviors).

I think the only kinds of people who would support such a ban are those who are either scared to death of religion or so vindictive towards prisoners that they want them to rot away in jail with nothing to hope for or believe. Let them have their "crutch" if that's all you think it is; what skin is it off your back?

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