tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post1334455077448976338..comments2023-05-11T04:57:33.365-07:00Comments on Trees For Lunch: 'A New Hope' for Angola inmatesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-35110375984033764412010-02-19T14:08:52.511-08:002010-02-19T14:08:52.511-08:00Ta JD.Ta JD.SmartLXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447028072345461620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-26667406462433411842010-02-19T07:01:38.074-08:002010-02-19T07:01:38.074-08:00Ross, do you have a good link re: the Alpha source...Ross, do you have a good link re: the Alpha source controversy from a periodical down under?<br /><br />LX in answer to your question, <a href="http://www.conservapedia.com/Presbyterian_Church_in_America" rel="nofollow">this church</a> is the type that I attend. Their official webpage is www.pcanet.orgJ Curtishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12746127431922685446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-38019236292381309972010-02-18T21:09:47.140-08:002010-02-18T21:09:47.140-08:00Now that you mention that, Ross, have there been a...Now that you mention that, Ross, have there been any studies of comparative recidivism rates between those who found God in jail and those who didn't?SmartLXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447028072345461620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-78788192056953131312010-02-18T20:43:53.246-08:002010-02-18T20:43:53.246-08:00Anything program that reduces the rates of parolee...Anything program that reduces the rates of parolees re-offending, faith based or otherwise, must be good. There was a storm in teacup controversy here a while back when prisons starting offering the Alpha course.Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08827731848618933239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-87902346401276823542010-02-18T18:17:42.846-08:002010-02-18T18:17:42.846-08:00Who is your church, JD, now that you mention it?Who is your church, JD, now that you mention it?SmartLXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447028072345461620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-68693701617391953972010-02-18T18:07:31.625-08:002010-02-18T18:07:31.625-08:00I gather that in certain parts of the US, Baptists...<i>I gather that in certain parts of the US, Baptists are as focused on doorknocking and direct conversions as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Seventh-Day Adventists are more widely</i><br /><br />Speaking from experience, they do. In the county I live in, the residents are about to get a healthy dose of Presbyterians (PCA) doing much the same thing as my church and several others will begin to doing so.<br /><br /><i>even the sincere ones have already managed to convince themselves, and it is indeed what the staff want to hear from its wayward wards</i><br /><br />I would imagine that consistency (as much that could be expected in a seeting like that) would be key in determining a person's zeal for such a calling. In how they play with others and how they deal with conflict resolution.J Curtishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12746127431922685446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-4066982172050794502010-02-18T17:10:31.384-08:002010-02-18T17:10:31.384-08:00No, sorry, the link is just basic information abou...No, sorry, the link is just basic information about the prison from a nationwide database. "hard time" was pure speculation based on the Baptist culture apparently prevalent throughout the prison.<br /><br />I gather that in certain parts of the US, Baptists are as focused on doorknocking and direct conversions as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Seventh-Day Adventists are more widely. I'm simply imagining such people with a literally captive audience.<br /><br />And I didn't say convincing the staff of a divine calling would be <em>easy</em>. From my perspective, though, even the sincere ones have already managed to convince themselves, and it is indeed what the staff want to hear from its wayward wards.SmartLXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447028072345461620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-3391240376469671422010-02-18T16:50:48.744-08:002010-02-18T16:50:48.744-08:00eligible inmates who decline may well get a hard t...<i>eligible inmates who decline may well get a hard time instead</i><br /><br />I thought the link would spell out the idea of a "hard time". But maybe that was just speculation? I worked with adjudcated youths, the older ones right before they became adults. I think religious education helped some. At that age though, they're really more skeptical than anything else IMO and it's only going to benefit a small minority.J Curtishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12746127431922685446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-16853257358740309532010-02-18T16:45:32.663-08:002010-02-18T16:45:32.663-08:00I'm sure they weed them out on a case by case ...I'm sure they weed them out on a case by case basis. <br /><br />I'll check out the link.J Curtishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12746127431922685446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-47785113492994733732010-02-18T16:32:58.416-08:002010-02-18T16:32:58.416-08:00I found a clip of it here, JD. Interesting that t...I found a clip of it <a href="http://vimeo.com/7543914" rel="nofollow">here</a>, JD. Interesting that the film's about the Angola prison program and it's immediately being shown to the inmates there. It's apparently become an induction of sorts.<br /><br />I have to say I can see a lot of benefits for inmates doing the program, but they have little to do with God or the Kingdom.<br /><br />- According to <a href="http://www.insideprison.com/Louisiana-State-Penitentiary-lsp.asp" rel="nofollow">this</a>, the Bible college is the only legitimate tertiary degree available to the inmates. The other programs, for example the auto mechanics course, are "vocational". (Funny how they use that word for everything else, since it's so appropriate to a church "calling".) Thanks to Bill Clinton, there are no competing Pell Grants to be had in the clink.<br /><br />- New Bible students would immediately gain at least a small measure of approval and respect from prison staff all the way up to the chief warden, who started the program, and eligible inmates who decline may well get a hard time instead.<br /><br />- Graduates have better employment and study options when they get out, which the excerpt says and I believe. Degree aside, to the average employer in the South nothing says "reformed" like a Bible in an ex-con's hand.<br /><br />- Even graduates who are lifers get to do regular ministry work, which allows them to travel outside the facility and is physically easier than the alternatives at Angola (like making mops, brooms and wheelchairs).<br /><br />- 90% of Louisiana's people are nominally Christian to begin with. Add to that the program's director John Robsons boasting, "Seventy percent of our students became Christians after they came [to Angola]," which in light of the previous probably means they just became observant ones. Living in that population, anyone even tenuously tied to the church has <em>got</em> to be a little less likely to be beaten, raped or killed on a given day.<br /><br />Frankly, I can see why inmates would want to convince the staff that they'd had a calling even if God hadn't said a damn word to them.SmartLXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447028072345461620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-10979784235820456522010-02-18T16:29:14.483-08:002010-02-18T16:29:14.483-08:00Thanks photogr. If it's verifiably reducing v...Thanks photogr. If it's verifiably reducing violent incidents, then it should be encouraged.J Curtishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12746127431922685446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4434842591971703006.post-55636889165739884552010-02-18T16:03:48.715-08:002010-02-18T16:03:48.715-08:00This is good reading. Lets hope they can lead bett...This is good reading. Lets hope they can lead better lives.photogrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149737419546300220noreply@blogger.com