Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
Posted on 05/20/2004 10:53:45 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
On several “ BreakPoints,” Chuck Colson has addressed the threat posed by the growing radical Islamic movement among America’s prison population. Unfortunately, since the last time he spoke about it, the situation in our prisons has only become worse.
The U.S. Department of Justice has just released a report about the selection of Muslim religious service providers by the Bureau of Prisons. According to this report, the Bureau has been far too lax in screening Muslim chaplains, contractors, and volunteers who work in our prisons. While these workers have to undergo background checks, drug screenings, and other similar tests, prison officials haven’t been questioning them to determine their propensity toward violence in the name of religion. Additionally, the report reads, “According to the Chief of the Chaplaincy Services Branch, the investigations do not specifically examine the candidates’ past sermons or performance in religious settings to determine whether they have given radical messages or made radical statements.”
And that’s not all. The Bureau of Prisons requires that all chaplains be endorsed by a national organization made up of members of their own faith. Until recently, the Bureau accepted endorsements for Muslim chaplains and contractors from only one Muslim organization, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). But during an intensive investigation prompted by September 11, it was discovered that several board members of the ISNA had possible ties to terrorism. Not only that, but the report also discovered a breakdown in communication between the FBI and the Bureau of Prisons about such ties between national Islamic groups and terrorist groups.
Consequently, in 2003, the Bureau of Prisons stopped accepting candidates endorsed by the ISNA. No other organization has yet stepped in to fill the void. The report states that this situation “effectively has resulted in a freeze on hiring Muslim chaplains.”
The lack of Muslim chaplains has created a need that also is all too often being filled by the wrong people. As the report puts it, “Without a sufficient number of Muslim chaplains on staff, inmates are . . . much more likely to lead their own religious services, distort Islam . . . and espouse extremist beliefs.”
We’ve already seen some frightening examples of what can happen when radical Muslims play on the sensibilities of prisoners who are feeling isolated and vulnerable. Radical Islam flourishes in prison, often because it offers inmates the chance to feel like part of a community and fuels their fantasies of vengeance. Both “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and alleged would-be bomber Jose Padilla first encountered radical Islam in prison.
The good news is that, according to the report, the Bureau of Prisons is already beginning to exercise more vigilance and will, we hope, adopt strict measures to guard against the spread of radical Islam. But even more important for us as Christians is the need to increase our own presence among these seemingly least valuable members of our society—prisoners. In prison, like everywhere else, the surest antidote to the poison of hatred and revenge spread by anyone, including some radical Islamists, is Christ’s message of love, forgiveness, and peace.
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This is something else we can thank Liberals for.
For decades, the Left has been telling people that they're victims. Didn't finish school? Not your fault, you're not white, or rich, or well-connected, or whatever, and the schools discriminate against you. You robbed, raped, murdered? Society failed you, of course you committed these crimes. The deck was stacked against you. You couldn't help it.
All this so the underclass would continue to reliably vote Democratic.
And now we have a large, violent, criminal community who genuinely believes that its problems are the fault of a biased society, not of its own criminal behavior. In come the radical Muslim clerics, to sow their seed of antisocial hatred in this fertile soil.
We haven't even started to see violent terrorist attacks by our own citizens yet, but we will. I'd just like to say to the Leftists in this country: Thanks, guys. We really needed this.
But even more important for us as Christians is the need to increase our own presence among these seemingly least valuable members of our society-prisoners. In prison, like everywhere else, the surest antidote to the poison of hatred and revenge spread by anyone, including some radical Islamists, is Christ's message of love, forgiveness, and peace.
The solution has been accurately identified. But knowing the solution and acting on it are two different things. Until Christians start putting their faith into action, prisons, Islamic radicals, and pew sores WILL continue to get worse.
From article: "effectively has resulted in a freeze on hiring Muslim chaplains.”
Hiring? Does this mean tax dollars pay these chaplains? Whatever happened to religion doing it's own good works....or in the case of muslims, bad works? If these religions can't provide their own prison outreach, it should not be paid for by the government!
I thought extremist beliefs ARE part and parcel of the religion or peace, not a distortion.
When I use the term "pew sores" in a Christian T-shirt design, I'll be sure to give you credit!
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