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New Purging Prison Pamphlets
and other religious books because a few excite violence. [link|http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/us/10prison.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp\n|NYT] 
\ufffdOtisville had a very extensive library of Jewish religious books, many of them donated,\ufffd said David Zwiebel, executive vice president for government and public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish group. \ufffdIt was decimated. Three-quarters of the Jewish books were taken off the shelves.\ufffd

Mr. Zwiebel asked, \ufffdSince when does the government, even with the assistance of chaplains, decide which are the most basic books in terms of religious study and practice?\ufffd

The lawsuit raises serious First Amendment concerns, said Douglas Laycock, a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, but he added that it was not a slam-dunk case.

\ufffdGovernment does have a legitimate interest to screen out things that tend to incite violence in prisons,\ufffd Mr. Laycock said. \ufffdBut once they say, \ufffdWe\ufffdre going to pick 150 good books for your religion, and that\ufffds all you get,\ufffd the criteria has become more than just inciting violence. They\ufffdre picking out what is accessible religious teaching for prisoners, and the government can\ufffdt do that without a compelling justification. Here the justification is, the government is too busy to look at all the books, so they\ufffdre going to make their own preferred list to save a little time, a little money.\ufffd

...

Timothy Larsen, who holds the Carolyn and Fred McManis Chair of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, an evangelical school, looked over lists for \ufffdOther Christian\ufffd and \ufffdGeneral Spirituality.\ufffd

\ufffdThere are some well-chosen things in here,\ufffd Professor Larsen said. \ufffdI\ufffdm particularly glad that Dietrich Bonhoeffer is there. If I was in prison I would want to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer.\ufffd But he continued, \ufffdThere\ufffds a lot about it that\ufffds weird.\ufffd The lists \ufffdshow a bias toward evangelical popularism and Calvinism,\ufffd he said, and lacked materials from early church fathers, liberal theologians and major Protestant denominations.


Otisville is a federal prison camp in Otisville, NY where a some inmates have file a federal lawsuit regarding the purging.
Seamus
New 'Fair and Balanced'
Hah...

When that library has Bertie Russell there and the new articulate crop of Non-aligned areligionists represented, too - so that prisoners can sample the actual Range of views on the things that go bump in the night: all the efforts to weed out the 'disturbing' will be no more nor less than the usual censorship, beloved of Puritans and certain %Islamists everywhere.

As to 'inciting violence' - what about that terrible swift sword thing? The Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war..?
(No doubt Tom Paine is notable by his absence.)

Smoke & mirrors :-/
It seems that very few actually welcome freedom of thought, as always - ie. nothing Has changed. Want to read and learn stuff? Stay outta the Pen.



Simplistic Solutions R'US




Now what do we do about million-seller raps with hos, bitches and paeans to gang warfare?
(And what ever happened to Condoleezza? is she alive? Guantanamo-incommunicado? The Stasi Wants to Know.)
New Bertie I bet it would have
Saul Alinsky OTH is probably gone.
Seamus
New Tricky ground.
It's a prison. Any book is a privilege. On any subject. Be thankful for what you can get. The purging aspect seems a bit odd though. If reducing incitement to violence is the point, I would expect the JCM branches to have pretty much all their works pulled.
-----------------------------------------
Atheism is a religion in the same sense that not collecting stamps is a hobby.
New It shouldn't be
I agree individual prisoner access to the library is a privilege and there are no guarantees as to the quality and selection of the books. But, purging the library of books they think will incite violence is a waste of time and resources.
Seamus
New Just give 'em all Judy Blume books...
..and be done with it!
jb4
"It's hard for me, you know, living in this beautiful White House, to give you a firsthand assessment."
George W. Bush, when asked if he believed Iraq was in a state of civil war (Newsweek, 26 Feb 07)
     Purging Prison Pamphlets - (Seamus) - (5)
         'Fair and Balanced' - (Ashton) - (1)
             Bertie I bet it would have - (Seamus)
         Tricky ground. - (Silverlock) - (2)
             It shouldn't be - (Seamus)
             Just give 'em all Judy Blume books... - (jb4)

Laugh self to death.
59 ms