Church is meant to be an edifying encounter with our God in community, not a punishment or a legal obligation enforced at the end of a policeman's nightstick or a probation officer's watchful eye. Faith and repentance can't be forced or enforced by law; they need to be a response from one's heart. This "Bible Belt" notion of ramming religion down people's throats by government diktat is contrary both to the United States Constitution's first amendment and the true evangelism of Christ Jesus' gospel, which invites, but never coerces.

Separation of Church and State? Anyone? O_o

JC Fisher

So, in this morning's Gospel, it's obvious that Jesus left off the third part of the story.

There was the son who said "no" to his father but changed his mind and went into the vineyard after all.

There was the son who said "yes, I'll go" but didn't.

And then there was the father who said to both his errant children "go to synagogue every week for a year and I'll forget about it."

Not much different from the involuntary correctional clients I worked with for 17 years. Courts regularly make therapy a condition of parole. The challenge is to turn them into willing participants and it worked in about half the cases. Assigning pro-social behaviors to those found guilty of anti-social ones is not a bad idea and not new. These clients need to replace criminogenic friends with new ones. I wonder whether the parishioners and greeters are up to the challenge.

This sounds to much like the "faith" that I was fed as a child: Attend Sunday Mass or you will be committing a mortal sin and will risk hell fire. As a result, I attended out of a misguided sense of obligation and not because of a desire to worship God. Besides that, doesn't this sound a bit like indulgences? Do such-and-such and you get a certain amount of time out of purgatory (in this case jail).

On the other hand, as Donald Hands pointed out above, this sort of thing does work in some cases.

I suppose the tree will be known by it's fruit.

Cullin R. Schooley

I would hope that no Episcopal church would be a part of this. It is blatantly unconstitutional. Clergy everywhere should be signing up to fight this frightening encroachment by the state, which is, in essence, turning them into unpaid "Jailers for Jesus."

I'd be interested to know if there are any non-Christian faith communities on the list. I have a feeling I already know the answer....

For those who consider it a good idea (despite church/state), doesn't it mean that regular church goers (at least those going to an approved church) get off with no penalty? Also what if the person doesn't belong to any of the religions represented on the approved list of churches (e.g., Jewish, Muslim, atheist, Mormon [I checked, there is no LDS ward in north Baldwin county])? Will the participants be required to put money in the collection box or convert as a condition of the pastor signing off on them attending? Are any of the signed-up pastors much less all trained in therapy or social work?