Books project helps atheists make the case for unbelief behind bars

[SecularMotion]

Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2014, 06:30 PM - Edit history (1)

Leslie Zukor was a 19-year-old student at Reed College studying prison rehabilitation programs when something jumped out at her.

While there were programs tackling drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse, technical training, and more, all of them were offered by faith-based organizations. Where were the options for those behind bars who are atheists, like her?

“Not all prisoners are religious, and I wanted them to know that to turn your life around and be a good and productive member of society does not require a belief in God,” she said. “I just thought, wow, it is time to see about getting other perspectives in there.”

So Zukor launched the Freethought Books Project, collecting books about atheism, humanism and science and sending them to interested prisoners. She estimates that since her first book drive in 2005, she has given out 2,300 books, magazines and newspapers to perhaps hundreds of prisoners across the country.

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/22/books-project-helps-atheists-make-case-unbelief-behind-bars/

[cbayer]

1. Sounds like a great project,

but despite their protestations, it is very much like what religious organizations do in prisons.

The title is really confusing and doesn't really fit the article. I wonder what's up with that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Charisma magazine is a far right fundamentalist hate mag

They have taken the Religion News Service article - "Books project helps atheists make the case for unbelief behind bars" - and put far right spin on it with their own headline.

see eg:

Charisma magazine’s spirit of hate and lies

I used to think of Charisma magazine as basically Christianity Today for the Pentecostal/charismatic branch of American evangelicalism. It was a glossy general-interest magazine geared toward that sub-set of the subculture, with church news, celebrity profiles and lifestyle-trend pieces aimed to appeal to that audience.

Like CT, it was generally conservative — reflecting the conservative social and political views of its writers and readership, but not aggressively partisan, and thus distinct from the transparently political operatives of the religious right.

But at some point — I’m not sure exactly when this happened, I wasn’t paying that close attention to it — it seems Charisma and its publisher Steve Strang have decided to embrace the religious right model. Strang these days seems to aspire to be the next Tony Perkins. He wants to be a political player and, like Perkins, he won’t let facts or truth or honesty hold him back from pursuing that goal.
...
• “Did Boy Scouts of America Sell Its Soul to the Devil?” asks the headline of Raynard Jackson’s Charisma column. Not wanting to keep readers in suspense, Jackson answers that question in his first sentence: “When the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) leadership voted to allow openly homosexual kids to become Boy Scouts, they, in that one act, sold their souls to the devil.”

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2013/06/19/charisma-magazines-spirit-of-hate-and-lies/

[cbayer]

3. Ah, that explains that.

The article seemed to be overall positive, which surprised me in light of the rather ugly headline.

thanks for the clarification.

[SecularMotion]

4. Wow! It's the exact same article with a different title

Thanks for the link to the original article. I'm going to change the title and link in the OP.