Survey describes faith behind bars

[rug]

Posted on Wed, May. 02, 2012 07:11 AM
By HELEN T. GRAY
McClatchy Newspapers

Movies and TV portray hardened criminals cursing God and everyone else.

In reality, many inmates worship God and practice their faith behind bars.

A recent 50-state survey of chaplains offered a rare look at the worshippers behind bars, with the questions asked by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington, D.C.

The study said state prisons hold the bulk of the country's convicts (1.4 million), but little has been released to the public on religion in these institutions.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/02/3588440/survey-describes-faith-behind.html

Survey:

http://www.pewforum.org/Social-Welfare/prison-chaplains-exec.aspx

[cbayer]

1. The problem with this survey, imo, is that they only surveyed the chaplains

and not the inmates.

For whatever reason, the prisons apparently have accurate numbers from the inmates themselves but won't or can't release them.

[rug]

2. That is a limitation.

"About the Survey

"This survey was conducted between Sept. 21 and Dec. 23, 2011, among professional chaplains and religious services coordinators working in state prisons (both titles are used in state prisons, and they are treated as interchangeable in this report). Correctional authorities in all 50 states granted permission for the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life to contact state prison chaplains and request their voluntary participation in the survey. The state departments of corrections also provided email addresses or other contact information solely for the purposes of this survey, which was endorsed by the American Correctional Chaplains Association. Of 1,474 chaplains who were sent Web and paper questionnaires, 730 returned completed questionnaires, a response rate of nearly 50%."

I wonder how a survey of the inmates would be designed.

[Jim__]

3. Didn't you report on this once before?

here?

[rug]

4. So I did.

I thought the newspaper was reporting something additional.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/02/3588440/survey-describes-faith-behind.html

But it's the same survey.

[MineralMan]

5. Well, it doesn't appear to be working all that well.

The recidivism rate in the US has been stable at 40-something% for a very long time, measured by being back in prison within 3 years. I suspect the rate is actually quite a bit higher, but don't have statistics to support that.

So, it doesn't appear to be working very well at all.

[cbayer]

6. I think recidivism is a lot more complicated than that.

It's not going to matter how religious you are if you are plagued with poverty, mental illness, poor education, crime and drug ridden neighborhoods, no access to services, pervasive racism and a criminal record.

[MineralMan]

7. I'm not really able to discuss the reasons for recidivism.

I don't have enough information. Perhaps America's churches are not taking ex-cons under their wings and helping them to return to society. That's a thought.

I know for a fact that there were no convicted felons in the church I attended from childhood through my late teens. Not one. I don't even remember one visiting the church. Odd, that, since it was a church that constantly preached compassion. I guess that's something that only applies to some.

The life of ex-convicts is very, very difficult, and primarily because they are rejected by society in general after serving their prison term. Maybe the churches could follow Jesus' teachings as supposedly recorded in the four Gospels. That might be worth a try, I'd think.

How about your church? Do they invite ex-convicts to their services? That would be very good of them.

[cbayer]

9. I think churches are probably doing more than any other non-governmental organizations

to provide services for ex-cons.

They may not be in your churches, but many of the halfway houses and other organizations are run by religious groups. If you did not grow up in the neighborhoods that result in imprisonment, it is not surprising that you didn't see any ex-cons there.

I don't have a church, but while growing up, my father (a minister) actively invited and worked with ex-convicts in our church. He was very involved in working with the gangs in the neighborhoods where we lived. One of them set our church on fire.

He also took care of people with psychiatric disorders, runaways, teenage mothers and others in need. Some of them lived with us at times. One committed suicide in our home.

It's tough work, but there are people doing it and many of them are religiously affiliated.

[MineralMan]

10. You should be proud of your father for that. I applaud him.

Some percentage of released convicts do get help, but it's a small percentage, I think. For those who help in that way, I have great respect. For those who do not, I wish they'd study the example of those who do.

[cbayer]

11. If you don't know, my father is Thats My Opinion, who posts here.

[MineralMan]

13. Thanks. I was aware of that.

He should be commended for those efforts. Prison ministries do good things, and programs for released convicts do, as well. There just aren't enough of them to handle the workload, so the majority of released convicts get no assistance from such groups. And yet, there are churches on every corner where I live, and prisons just up the road. There's more that could be done. Much more.

[cbayer]

14. I agree.

Churches should not be enclaves where people hide away, don't engage with the *others* and just pat themselves on the back for perhaps raising some money for a good cause. And churches are the last places where people should be excluded because of who they are, bet it GLBT, convict or insane.

Some are like that, but there are others that are not. Unfortunately, there are not nearly enough.

[MineralMan]

15. I've spent a lot of time volunteering in homeless shelters.

Not anymore, since I don't really have the physical endurance, but in the past. Lots of ex-cons in homeless shelters. Among the volunteers I met and worked with were people of several religious beliefs, and of none at all. I could never tell the difference in how they approached helping those who had nothing. All were there for their own reasons, and shared the same goals. Religion played no role in that shelter.

By the same token, my main charity now is the Union Gospel Mission in St. Paul, MN. They do bring religious belief to their work, a belief I do not share. However, in looking at all of the homeless assistance operations in my city, they appeared to be doing the best job, so they get my financial support. Religion sometimes supports charitable causes, but they are not the only supporters. The people I worked with as a shelter volunteer and those I know at the Union Gospel Mission have many things in common, but religious belief isn't necessarily one of those things. A charitable heart comes from the individual, not from religious doctrine, I believe. Some people have it; others do not.

It seems that simple to me, based on my own experiences in 66 years.

[cbayer]

16. Well, there you go - and good for you.

[cbayer]

12. And I am very proud of him. And thankful to him.

[MineralMan]

8. Here's Matthew 25:31-45

You may recognize it. It's a place where Jesus supposedly talked about people in prison. Maybe the churches need to read this on Sunday, and reflect on what it says. Not enough time is spent in churches studying Matthew. Paul's letters seem to be the fodder for most churches. A pity, that. Imagine if that were not true, and people followed the teachings below:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’