SUNDAY...AGAIN

Well, the ACLU is at it again. We have had two stories this week involving the ACLU and The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. (It's a lovely place...especially this time of year). I guess the LA chapter has assigned a special envoy to Angola, or something.

Both stories involve (don't be shocked now) religion. The first story I told y'all about involves an actual lawsuit being filed. This one has not, and evidently will not get that far, as it is only a complaint that the Prison is going to (let me get my word book...) acquiesce to.

This complaint involves a monument that stands at the gate of the prison. As new residents of The Graybar Hotel enter their new home a monument greets them. Now, I'm not one to hardly ever agree with the ACLU, but I can certainly understand why someone would be offended at this monument.

On the "entry side," the incoming prisoner reads, among others, these words: "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead."

Now, I can clearly understand why this would be counterproductive to the guests. Why in the world would anyone want someone whose life experience has lead them to a long term stay at Angola to put their past behind them? Why would any decent, civil libertarian want to encourage troubled men to use incarceration as an opportunity to better themselves?

Of course, that is not the objection of the ACLU. Their objection is the Biblical reference to Philippians, chapter 3. We can't have these fellows being reminded, or maybe even for the first time learning, that the Bible offers encouragement.

On the "exit side" of this monument, we find even more troubling offensive language. A prisoner leaving Angola to head out into society again reads these words: "The light of God surrounds you/The love of God enfolds you/The power of God protects you/And the presence of God watches over you;/Wherever you are, God is."

Appalling! Why in the name of God would anyone want a released prisoner to be reminded that at least they've got one real friend on their side as they try to make a new start?

Well, the Prison has decided to keep the words of encouragement from Philippians, but scratch off the Biblical reference. And according to prison officials, the side with the prayer will be filled with artwork or a more secular inspirational message.

Hey, I've got a suggestion..."Hit the road Jack, and don't you come back no more!"

The whole article is here, but you just gotta love what the ACLU chick had to say:

"I am expecting him to keep his word," Marjorie Esman, the state ACLU's executive director, said of Cain's promise to revise the monument.

She told Cain in a separate letter Thursday that the ACLU "supports you in your efforts to encourage prisoners to look forward toward changing their lives for the better; we expect those efforts to be conducted in a way that will not endorse one religion over another or religion over non-religion."

Esman said the monument is seen by all entering Angola -- from delivery personnel to attorneys and family members of inmates who visit -- and "all deserve to have their own religious beliefs respected as they go about their business at Angola."