In a move of unprecedented stupidity, the town of Bay Minette, Alabama is set to begin a new sentencing program where some convicted criminals will be given the option to choose to choose to go to Church over a jail sentence. The offender would be sentenced to mandated weekly attendance at an institution of their choosing, and would need to meet weekly with the head of the congregation and parole officers. But, is this really a viable option? Do we really want to "re-moralize" people through institutions that have relied on the threat of eternal torture as their primary means of deterrence for the past 2000 years? What similar options are Bay Minette officials prepared to offer atheist offenders?
As you would expect, an onslaught of civil liberties lawyers have challenged the program, stating
Read the full story at The Huffington Post.
"It is a fundamental principle of the Establishment Clause that the government cannot force someone to attend church...When the alternative to going to church is going to jail, the so-called `choice' available to offenders is no choice at all."
