Editorial: Overly zealous approach

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 | 7:40 a.m.

The library shelves of the nation's prisons have been stripped of religious books and materials because federal officials fear that the materials could inspire inmates to join militant Islamic and other radical religious groups.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that prison chaplains say the move has left the libraries of some institutions relatively bare, as books and CDs not appearing on the lists of approved materials were removed, and no funding was provided to replace them with approved materials. At one federal prison in New York, three-quarters of the library's Jewish books were stripped from the shelves.

The federal Bureau of Prisons initiated the removal after a 2004 report by the Justice Department's inspector general recommended that certain religious materials be removed to prevent recruiting by radical groups after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Traci Billingsley, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, told the Times that officials "wanted really consistently available information for all religious groups to assure reliable teachings as determined by reliable subject experts."

But the bureau has not revealed the identities of those experts, nor has it released its list of approved materials to the public. Timothy Larsen, a theology professor and Christianity scholar who examined the list of approved materials after it was obtained by the Times, characterized the list as "weird" and said it is lopsided in favor of Calvinism and popular evangelical writing. More than half of the approved Judaism books come from a single publishing house.

Certainly, books and materials that incite violence do not belong in prisons, but it is inappropriate for a government agency to issue an "approved" reading list for religious materials - especially when prison chaplains say they already were in the habit of rejecting offensive works.

Prisoners often find solace in religious teachings and use them as a foundation for turning around their lives - something that benefits all of society once they are released. Our communities have little to gain by preventing people who have wronged society from cultivating a more solid set of values.