Resisting a culture of punishment

Please reinstate me. I sent in a previous invoice [in response to your recent direct-mail solicitation] marked "cancel," and then I received the Jan/Feb 2002 issue. ... WOW!

Rebecca Jackson
Chicago, IL

Puritanical mind-set misguided

Ethan Flad’s interview of Van Jones ("Addiction to punishment: Challenging America’s incarceration industry") cut right to the chase with respect to the underlying motivation for America’s peculiar obsession with punishment, especially as it relates to the "puritanical" nature of our culture and its permeation in many mainstream churches today.

Keep in mind, there are people who are still alive today who were alive when alcohol prohibition was passed and later repealed.

As well-meaning as these prohibitionists may have been (including today’s prohibitionists who are fueling the war on drugs) in their zeal to protect individuals from vice and punish "sinful" behavior, this mentality is horribly misguided and has produced tragic consequences.

Yes, some people need to be in prison to protect the property and welfare of other innocent members of the public. The European Union has a population of some 351 million inhabitants and a prison population of around 356,000. In contrast, the United States with 274 million residents has a prison population of over 2 million, roughly 400,000 of which are in prison for drug crimes – most of whom are people of color and come from impoverished backgrounds.

I am not terribly optimistic for any dramatic reversal of this puritanical phenomenon in the near future, given the current administration in Washington and the fact that this mentality has been alive in America since the Salem witch trials.

For those Christians who are not addicted to the culture of punishment, especially as it relates to the drug war, Western Europe offers some solid moral and intellectual fodder for discussion and debate.

In Holland, which is a peaceful, orderly society, all drugs, including marijuana, are "illegal," but nonetheless any adult can buy marijuana and other drugs in "coffee houses" and the like. This is because the authorities only enforce the law if the drug user engages in criminal or anti-social behavior that directly affects other members of the public.

Thank you, Mr. Flad, and The Witness magazine, for your insight into the "war on drugs" and the destructive results it has produced.

Tim Beck
Detroit, MI

‘Let My People Go’

I read with great interest Marianne Arbogast’s interview with Bishop Herbert Thompson – "Let My People Go" – in the Jan/Feb 2002 issue of The Witness.

Your readers might want to know that a copy of Bishop Thompson’s paper is available from Forward Movement Publications, an agency of the national Episcopal Church. I’ve enclosed a copy of our publication for your perusal. (For copies contact FMP at: 412 Sycamore Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202-4195; 513-721-6659; <www.forwardmovement.org>.)

Charles F. Brumbaugh
Forward Movement Publications
Cincinnati, OH

Embracing religious pluralism

Your regular subscription form asks, "How did you hear about us?" I heard about you many years ago from Miss Nellie McKim. Miss Nellie was the daughter of Bishop John Cole McKim an early Missionary Bishop of Japan. Miss Nellie, I think, was my mother’s godmother and a godmother to my son Peter also. She was a missionary in Japan at the start of World War II and was imprisoned there for a time. During that time she was an intermediary to the prison camp commandant, as she was fluent in Japanese. She was repatriated in an exchange of diplomats and eventually lived out her life in San Francisco, Calif. Miss Nellie, good missionary that she was, told me that I should subscribe to your magazine, as I would find it helpful. I never did as I found other channels for my energy.

Last year I met Ethan Flad at my son Andy’s birthday party. I shocked Ethan by knowing of The Witness. We met again at Andy’s Christmas party this year and Ethan kindly presented me with copies of the November 2001 and December 2001 issues.

The December 2001 issue [Embracing religious pluralism] convinced me that I should subscribe. It is good to see a call for a reevaluation of this country’s foreign policy in a "religious" magazine. The message coincides with the statements of Michael Nagler of the University of California at Berkeley’s Peace and Conflict Studies Program that I read on the same day that I read the December 2001 issue of The Witness.

Thank you for your work.

Donald T. Nakahata, D.D.S.
Mill Valley, CA

Prayer for the New Year

I have been a subscriber for about five years. I am a Christian Scientist and I wish my church had a publication like The Witness. I have appreciated every one of the issues I have received over the years. I enclose a prayer for the New Year:

Give us the kindness to hear with compassion,
to offer support, loving comfort, and care.

Give us the courage to do what is needed,
the wisdom to choose what is right and
most fair.

Give us the vision to see what is possible.

Give us the faith that will help pave the way
for a present that’s hopeful,
a future that’s peaceful –

Give us the heart to bring joy to each day.

Suzanne Nightingale
Cape Coral, FL