When Redemption Becomes Offensive
by Doug Patton
June 04, 2006

“I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” - Matthew 25:36 (NKJ)

According to a judge in Iowa, helping the incarcerated is no place for God. Apparently, the Lord and His followers should stay in their houses of worship and leave the day-to-day running of society to the experts.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt has ruled that Innerchange Freedom Initiative, a faith-based program started by Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship to reach out to prisoners with a positive message of redemption through the power of Christianity, is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the state. Pratt’s ruling states not only that the IFI program must stop ministering to inmates, but also that Prison Fellowship must repay more than $1.5 million it has received from the state of Iowa since it began working in conjunction with authorities in 1999 at the Newton, Iowa, correctional facility. (An interesting side note: Judge Pratt has stayed his own ruling pending appeal, an indication of how close to the fringe he knows his reasoning is in this case.) the rest