Rick Warren Should Be in Prison

That’s the subject line of an email I received this morning in my Inbox. It was from a group trying to rally support against library censorship efforts in our federal prison system. Beyond the political action of the email, the topic is one that is intriguing at best and potentially disturbing at worst.

Beginning last spring the Bureau of Prisons began systematically telling chaplains to remove books & resources which didn’t make a pre-approved list. The list was compiled with the help of religious experts, according to the Bureau, and the move was designed to help curb violence and religious extremism brewing in the prison system.

Here are two articles explaining the move…

• “Prisons Purging Books on Faith from Libraries” (NY Times - hurry as the Times makes archived articles available to paid subscribers only)
• “2 New York Prisoners Sue to Get Their Banned Religious Books Back” (International Herald Tribune)

Most confusing deletion to me… The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. This is violent material???

What’s your take on this? After reading the above articles I find the practice a little disturbing - but I’ll reserve final judgment until I know a little more & get to see the actual lists.