Fox News published an article about a town in Alabama in which non-violent criminals can either choose to go to church or serve time in jail. Authorities say that Operation Restore Our Community begins next week. The city judge will allow non-violent criminals to choose between going to church every Sunday for a year or pay off their sentence either by serving time in jail or paying a fine. If the offenders decide to go to church, they must check in weekly with the pastor of the particular church and then the police department as well. If the offender goes to church for a year, then the case will be dismissed. Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland says that the program could change lives that are headed down the wrong path. So far 56 churches are committing to the program.
I found this article very interesting. I thought that the program was a neat and great idea if used in the correct way.
Today in society, countless numbers of individuals are place in jail for all sorts of crimes. Many of these individuals seem to just return time and time again to the jails throughout their entire life. Their problems or behaviors are usually not solved, but rather just kept to a manageable state until they can get back out into the world and act the same way they did before. By giving the option of either going to a church for a year or going to jail/paying a fine, I think there might be more success stories. While just going to church does not save a person or necessarily change them, we can pray that they will be confronted with the gospel and their sin and in turn dedicate their life to Christ. God is the only one who can change their life, so hopefully by attending a church for a year, many individuals will become transformed by God's saving grace. I think that this is a much better idea than just putting people through jail time and time again. It would be interesting to see how the level of crime and those going in and out of jail is affected by this program. I think this is a great idea as long as the churches participating are Biblically driven, Gospel-saturated churches. I would love to see more programs like these implemented in towns and cities all over the United States.
How about you, do you think this is a good idea or not? Do you think this will have a positive or negative affect on the community?
Good Article. I think that this would be a good idea if they people decided to go. This would save the county, city, or state agency money. It sounds like they are taking the idea from municipal community service.
ReplyDeleteI love your view in this matter. It shows the light of a true Christian. I think that more of this kind of cooperation in our country would be really good. Of coarse, there are those who might take advantage of this. How will we know if we don't try it? (That is not my motto by the way.)
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