What's the Problem? What's the Cure? Would Prayer be Appropriate?
During the last session of the Utah legislature, there was much discussion about the need for a new and larger prison and about the fact that we have more per capita prison inmates than other countries. Those who were asking for prison reforms said that many of the inmates are in prison when they should actually be in hospitals or in treatment programs instead. Their assumptions were that psychologists and psychiatrists would be able to solve these problems, and do it with less expense. Is that so?
What is the rate of cure of mental illnesses and drug addictions among those who have gone to the point of being incarcerated? Should we be looking only at cures for these maladies or should we be looking for the causes and preventions?
In the recent news about the convicted murderer of Joyce Yost, the question was not whether he was guilty, but whether he should get a sentence of life in prison or death. The defense council brought in a famous expert to witness that his childhood home environment was the cause of his heinous crimes. Family life in our society is moving from marriage to co-habitation. Is it likely that a live-in boyfriend will have the same relationship with a child as the natural father would have? Or would a homosexual live-in partner have the same relationship as the natural parent? Can a psychiatrist change the effects of the long term family dysfunction or abuse? Can a psychiatrist, psychologist or a police officer undo a lifetime of being taught irresponsibility and licentiousness? Why is it so hard to see the main cause of our overflowing prisons?
If a child is brought up in a home where irresponsibility and licentiousness is practiced, then the next question may be what environment is he experiencing at school? We have put the teacher under strict orders not to teach anything or promote anything relative to God or religion--essentially we have produced a Godless society with no sound moral reference for the student. Most often we will hear boasting in our high school graduations with little or no reference to duty to God--either from the students or from the school officials. Is education only to teach reading, writing, and mathematics? Is there no place in education for attitudes? Is it hard to see what the cause of our overflowing prisons is?
If the question of cause is answered, that should make it easier to come up with a proposal for a cure. Is education made up only of facts or is attitude as important? What attitude will result if a person believes that his own strength is sufficient for all things? What attitude will appear in a person who does not have any gratitude for the good things around him which he did not create? In short what will happen to a society that does not acknowledge The Creator?
Acknowledging the Creator is the first step to solving our problems. Mr. John Reynolds has just recently written to the Standard Examiner about a National Day of Prayer on May 6th. The Religious Liberty Council sponsoring the event will hear from several different faiths, including Father Erick Richtsteig, Pastor Dave Duncan, and Reverend R Zeller at the LDS Tabernacle in Ogden. Utah attorney General Sean Reyes will be the key note speaker.
If we don't turn to God, what hope have we for a solving the ever burgeoning prison problems?
