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Serve Time In Jail...Or In Church?

danarhea

danarhea

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BAY MINETTE, Alabama -- Non-violent offenders in Bay Minette now have a choice some would call simple: do time behind bars or work off the sentence in church.
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What if the offender is an atheist? For this reason, I believe that this is unconstitutional. Community service? OK, that is good, but not something where the government is uncontitutionally forcing religion down someone's throat. Let the offender bust bricks or something instead.

Article is here.

Discussion?
 
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danarhea said:
What if the offender is an atheist? For this reason, I believe that this is unconstitutional. Community service? OK, that is good, but not something where the government is uncontitutionally forcing religion down someone's throat. Let the offender bust bricks or something instead.

Article is here.
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of course it's unconstitutional, but it's the south, right?
 
How is it unconstitutional? They are giving the choice. So nobody is forcing anything.
 
Hell yeah follow the liberal lead here … get caught with a joint .. throw that bastard in jail for a year and a day .. so he doesn't end up in a county jail, let him have a year with rapists, killers, robbers, and those kinda criminals, I'm sure liberals agree, thats going to leave the guy/girl better off then doing work around a church …


Ya just gotta love liberals .. they bitch about our jails, then bitch about alternatives
'
 
The Barbarian said:
Hell yeah follow the liberal lead here … get caught with a joint .. throw that bastard in jail for a year and a day .. so he doesn't end up in a county jail, let him have a year with rapists, killers, robbers, and those kinda criminals, I'm sure liberals agree, thats going to leave the guy/girl better off then doing work around a church …


Ya just gotta love liberals .. they bitch about our jails, then bitch about alternatives
'
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So, do you have anything of substance to add?

Personally, I think that this is wrong as there is clearly a separation of church and state in the Constitution. I think that instead of working at a church, non-violent offenders should have to do general community service.
 
danarhea said:
What if the offender is an atheist? For this reason, I believe that this is unconstitutional. Community service? OK, that is good, but not something where the government is uncontitutionally forcing religion down someone's throat. Let the offender bust bricks or something instead.

Article is here.

Discussion?
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day late and a dollar short. I did a thread on this last week :thumbs:
 
I support it. You rarely hear about overcrowding in church. Besides, the most common reason I'm hearing when it comes to prison reformation is "I found God".

Why not bypass the 4x7 room and the prison rape?
 
danarhea said:
What if the offender is an atheist? For this reason, I believe that this is unconstitutional. Community service? OK, that is good, but not something where the government is uncontitutionally forcing religion down someone's throat. Let the offender bust bricks or something instead.

Article is here.

Discussion?
Click to expand...

I would agree that it's unconstitutional if it specifically must be a church. However, I would wholeheartedly support this idea if it was open to any community-based organization (religious organizations, non-profit organizations, etc). Frankly our criminal justice system is a disgrace and prison is used FAR too much. Although this particular implementation of the law is unconstitutional, it's well-intentioned and I think it would be a great law with a few adjustments.
 
danarhea said:
What if the offender is an atheist? For this reason, I believe that this is unconstitutional. Community service? OK, that is good, but not something where the government is uncontitutionally forcing religion down someone's throat. Let the offender bust bricks or something instead.

Article is here.

Discussion?
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i disagree with this, not because I have a problem with "religion being forced down people's throats," but because this kind of punishment is soft as ****. What happened to the good old days when it was either jail or military service? Do they still do that or no?
 
SCOTUS will throw this out as totally in violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

as would any State Supreme Court worth a penny.
 
StillBallin75 said:
i disagree with this, not because I have a problem with "religion being forced down people's throats," but because this kind of punishment is soft as ****. What happened to the good old days when it was either jail or military service? Do they still do that or no?
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Umm the incarceration rate is the highest it's ever been in American history, and is the highest of any country in the world. We already beat China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in the proportion of our citizens we lock in cages.
 
StillBallin75 said:
i disagree with this, not because I have a problem with "religion being forced down people's throats," but because this kind of punishment is soft as ****. What happened to the good old days when it was either jail or military service? Do they still do that or no?
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this ain't vietnam, military doesn't want criminal POSes
 
It is discriminatory.

I just posted in the comment section for the CNN article. let me copy and paste it here instead of rewriting it all:

me said:
...they need to remove the "you have one path to get your charges dismissed, and that is attend church" part of the deal.

This still leaves the problem of regular church goers who get a free pass to commit misdemeanors without any inconvenience. Perhaps if we make church goers do community service every Saturday while forced to listen to Slayer, and the non church goers have to attend church on sunday we can get past this imbalanced discriminatory aspect of it.

As it stands now one group essentially gets zero punishment and immunity with this scheme
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This is not an appropriate sentence for someone convicted of a crime.

I think it is best to pass down a sentence for true community service work, rather than having a person sit in a church singing hymns and sitting on his ass listening to a sermon.

Sends the wrong message to criminals, that's for sure.
 
so you can either serve time for your crime..or go to Church?

this is utter bull****. and totally illegal.
 
Athiest need to be told the truth on a continued basis. And because of that, there are Athiest that eventually had their eye's and minds opened in learning, knowing, and believing there is an Almighty God.
Regardless if it's in prisons or out in free social civilization.
 
dixiesolutions said:
Athiest need to be told the truth on a continued basis. And because of that, there are Athiest that eventually had their eye's and minds opened in learning, knowing, and believing there is an Almighty God.
Regardless if it's in prisons or out in free social civilization.
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got any evidence for this "Almighty" God?
 
dixiesolutions said:
Athiest need to be told the truth on a continued basis. And because of that, there are Athiest that eventually had their eye's and minds opened in learning, knowing, and believing there is an Almighty God.
Regardless if it's in prisons or out in free social civilization.
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First of all prove the so called "truth" there is a god.

Secondly prove the so called "truth" it's your god that you worship and not some other god.

Lastly prove there aren't multiple Gods.

Until you can prove those, it isn't truth, it's faith.

We shouldn't be sentencing a criminal to faith.
 
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Thunder said:
got any evidence for this "Almighty" God?
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Got any evidence against it? You're making the claim he doesn't exist. So prove your point.

But back on topic, if they don't want to sit in church with a bunch of beautiful women nicely dressed in a gorgeous building......**** 'em. Lock 'em up. It's their choice.
 
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dontworrybehappy said:
Got any evidence against it? You're making the claim he doesn't exist. So prove your point.
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Thunder didn't make the claim in this thread that God didn't exist. However, your bible buddy said it was TRUTH that he existed. Therefore the burden of proof is on you (if you claim god exists) and on your bible buddy.

But back on topic, if they don't want to sit in church with a bunch of beautiful women nicely dressed in a gorgeous building......**** 'em. Lock 'em up. It's their choice.
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So you are soft on crime and think a criminal should be rewarded. Got it, thanks.
 
I think those agreeing with this sentence from the judge would be screaming "unconstitutional" if this man were sentenced to attend a mosque. However, since it is to attend a church where the Christian god is worshipped, that makes ok to them.
 
DashingAmerican said:
How is it unconstitutional? They are giving the choice. So nobody is forcing anything.
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of course it's unconstitutional. the mere fact that a judge would offer a choice involving religion is unconstitutional.
 
dontworrybehappy said:
Got any evidence against it? You're making the claim he doesn't exist. So prove your point.

But back on topic, if they don't want to sit in church with a bunch of beautiful women nicely dressed in a gorgeous building......**** 'em. Lock 'em up. It's their choice.
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giving a convict the choice of paying for his crime in jail...or being free while going to church every Sunday......is spitting on our justice system and a smack against our Constitution.
 
TheNextEra said:
I think those agreeing with this sentence from the judge would be screaming "unconstitutional" if this man were sentenced to attend a mosque. However, since it is to attend a church where the Christian god is worshipped, that makes ok to them.
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I think you are wrong. and these criminals are not being sentenced to attend church. they are sentenced to jail. they can CHOOSE to go to church if they don't want to go to jail. I attended several mosques while I was in Iraq. I wasn't stuck by lightening or plaques of locust.
 
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