NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — State officials say they will end a Bible-based treatment program at Newton prison that has been the subject of a five-year court battle.
The Iowa Department of Corrections has notified Prison Fellowship Ministries in Virginia that the program, called the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, will end by mid-March, prison spokesman Fred Scaletta said in a copyright story in The Des Moines Register.
Prison Fellowship had a three-year state contract that ended in June to work with inmates. Prison officials had granted the group a one-year extension with donations covering expenses.
A provision in the agreement allows the prison to cancel the program if its enrollment drops below 60 inmates. That is expected to happen after a March 14 graduation ceremony for 27 prisoners, Scaletta said.
The program has been the subject of a protracted legal fight with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C.
In December, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled that the program advanced religion at government expense and that taxpayer money could not be used to finance the program.
The program, in place in Newton for eight years, has operated solely on donations since July 1, 2007, when Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, signed legislation eliminating a state appropriation for the project.
Prison Fellowship has contended the program is voluntary and produces secular benefits such as improving inmates behavior, reducing the number of people returning to prison and protecting public safety. Inmates in the InnerChange program spend seven days a week in work, education and prayer.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The phrase actually was penned by President Jefferson:
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." - Jefferson, Thomas (1802-01-01). Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists.
This statement from the First Amendment establishes the separation:
“Congress shall pass no law establishing religion….”
The Founding Fathers of the US were students of history and did not want a repeat of the religious wars of Europe; hence they wanted to keep religion out of government.
“If they taught that in school more people would stand up and ask why is the governement hindering my free expression of religion in school....”
I dont think anyone is being denied free expression of their (students) beliefs, but teachers and administrators should not be “teaching” about their religion in the classroom. If teachers were allowed to teach their religion in the classroom, my guess is you would object if it were not Christian. How many denominations of Christianity are there?- thousands. Which “correct” version would be taught in school?