Over in the US for a family gathering, I’ve come across some unfamiliar “fresh expressions of church”.
The authorities in the small town of Bay Minette in Alabama (in the ‘Bible Belt’) now offer an alternative punishment for minor non-violent crimes: attend church every week for a year! The local pastor says “Show me somebody who falls in love with Jesus, and show show you a person who won’t be a problem to society, but who will be an influence and a help to those around him.”
The general reaction has not been so positive, however. Not that church attendance would be seen as as a ‘cruel and unnatural punishment’; nor that it would be ineffective; but that it would be discriminatory. Atheists would have to be provided with a comparable scheme.
The American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] claim that the proposal would coerce people into Christian worship, and that it entangles government with religion – a separation strongly maintained in the US.
But that wouldn’t be the case in the UK, so is this idea something that our Forward Group at Chilwell Road could consider? If private companies can run prisons in the UK, couldn’t the church make its contribution too?
