Report: Prisons Bustling With Religious Activity

From the perspective of the nation’s professional prison chaplains, America’s state penitentiaries are a bustle of religious activity. According to “Religion in Prisons: A 50-State Survey of Prison Chaplains,” a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 73 percent of chaplains say that efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates are either very common or somewhat common.

About three-quarters of the chaplains say that a lot (26 percent) or some (51 percent) religious switching occurs among inmates in the prisons where they work. Many chaplains report growth from religious switching in the numbers of Muslims and Protestant Christians, in particular.

Overwhelmingly, state prison chaplains consider religious counseling and other religion-based programming an important aspect of rehabilitating prisoners. Seventy-three percent of chaplains, for example, say they consider access to religion-related programs in prison to be “absolutely critical” to successful rehabilitation of inmates. Among chaplains working in prisons that have religion-related rehabilitation or re-entry programs, 57 percent say the quality of such programs has improved over the last three years and 61 percent say participation in such programs has gone up.

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Gods child

I say Amen to this.
Dot

Praise The Lord!!!
Freeda

Most of the prisoners are converting to Christianity. And that's wonderful! However, a lot of the prisoners are switching to Islam. The Muslim community visits and actively recruits American convicts to join in their radical attempt to takeover the USA.
- Evermyrtle
  
  One soul lost to Islam is a total waste.
http://www.divinenewsnetwork.com Min. Thomas Allen

God bless. The Lord is working hard in these last days.
eVERMYRTLE

I realize, we have in this nation as well as under GOD, it is right to believe and worship as we choose, BUT TO BE CHILDREN OF GOD, THESE ARE SOME IMPORTANT SCRIPTURES WE NEED TO KNOW AND PRACTICE..

Ialatians 1:8-12
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed..
9. As we have before, so say I now again, If any man preach another gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed
10. For do I now persuade men, or GOD? or did I seek to please men: for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of CHRIST.
11. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it , but by the revelation of JESUS CHRIST
Larry

Religion in jail is ok. Religion in school is not ok? Curious…………………
- http://rationalresponses.blogspot.com/ Jeff Dixon
  
  Prisoners are adults and able to make their own decisions. It is also not required that the prisoner listen to the sermons. Many of them are also trying to look reformed to get out prison earlier. It is not the same issue at all.
  - keyboardshark
    
    Ah, but it is the same, at least if we are to believe the "separation of church and state" mantra. Both prisons and schools are run by the state, so why should there be any difference in how religion is treated in each? We cannot have a double standard that allows religious speech in one government program but not another, now, can we?
    - http://rationalresponses.blogspot.com/ Jeff Dixon
      
      One has adults in it and the other has children.
      - keyboardshark
        
        Then you are saying that there are exceptions to the mythical "separation of church and state" as understood by modern liberals. Either separation means a total separation, as we have been lead to believe, or it doesn't. Age should not be a factor. Nothing in Jefferson's letter, which seems to be the basis for the "separation" idea, suggested that age should be considered.
        
        Funny thing is, Jefferson attended church services in the U.S. Capitol building both before and during his presidency, even at the time of the infamous letter, so obviously what he meant in the letter was far different from the modern liberal idea. The First Amendment tells us what Congress may or may not do, not what the people may not do on government property.
      - http://rationalresponses.blogspot.com/ Jeff Dixon
        
        I am not discussing an exception at all. Schools and prisons are two totally different things. School kids being made to recite a prayer is far different than an adult prisoner deciding to sit in a voluntary pray meeting of a religion of their own choosing.
        
        If the prisoner was required to go to the meeting, I would be against it.
      - keyboardshark
        
        Then why aren't voluntary expressions of religion allowed in public schools? No one is forcing the other students to participate. Once you twist the meaning of the First Amendment to mean something entirely different than its original intent, it is a slippery slope that eventually leads to complete loss of freedom of religious expression.
      - radconserv
        
        Yes, let the children grow up morally bankrupt and then let the prison system fix them! Sounds like liberal talk to me.
    - bwalton
      
      "separation of church and state" is a term used in a letter, by one of our founding fathers (not sure who) What the constitution says is not to make laws concerning religion. Why do people always quote a letter and not the constitution???
      - keyboardshark
        
        Exactly. The meaning of the First Amendment has been frightfully twisted from its original meaning so that now it is used to suppress religious expression, when the original intent was to limit the power of the government to stifle religious expression. It clearly says "Congress shall make no law…" so the obvious meaning is that it is a limit placed on Congress, not the people.
Evermyrtle

I realize, we have in this nation as well as under GOD, it is right to believe and worship as we choose, BUT TO BE CHILDREN OF GOD, THESE ARE SOME IMPORTANT SCRIPTURES WE NEED TO KNOW AND PRACTICE..
msjallen

There are times when prescribed medication is necessary to help people through psychological illnesses; however, the Word of God is the best medicine anyone can use to heal the mind and the soul.
Marc Thomas

Amen! I couldn't have said that any better msjallen! I also believe that it is a Christain's responsibility to help convert as many people to Christianity as possible.
James Huntley

I am a prison minister and I can tell you that the black muslims are not about religion but it is a racial thing. Black men who are Christians are persecuted more severely as they are seen as "betraying" their "race".