Sentenced to church.

Hello everybody. So... Apparently some judge in Oklahoma sentenced a 17 year old to church for manslaughter charges. Here's a link to the story.
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/oklahoma-judge-sentences-teen-...
While I question the legality of this, I would feel fortunate to be afforded the opportunity to go to church in lieu of prison time. It's boring as fuck but you can always doodle in a notepad and pretend like you're taking notes on scripture. Doodling got me through three years of preaching after I lost faith, then I left once I no longer felt obligated to stay as part of the ministry. I got some sick joy out of being an atheist in the church, I likened myself to a wolf in sheeps clothing, hehe. I want to go back now, without my sheepskin. ^^

Anyways, back to the topic. What are your thoughts on this? Would you go to church if it meant not going to prison?

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Permalink Reply by James Cox on November 17, 2012 at 9:13pm

To me it is unclear if a 'church' sentence would be helpful. It seems more likely that his child is a little thin on common sense, and a little big on 'wilding/crazy making'. If religion could be seen as a civilizing influence, I might be more impressed, but I have seem very little consistency in this result.

I think public service in an understanding and principled environment might be more helpful. But again I do not have statistical data to dtermine utility.

This is somewhat similar to sending kids to military boot camps. I have a cousin that spent time in one of these, but came back a bigot, fixated upon guns, obcessed with violent computer games, and acted out violently. It is unclear if this is a common result for such programs, but might be some indication of that subculture.

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Permalink Reply by Byrnes Steel on November 18, 2012 at 5:48pm

i would totally go! easy time. but at the same time, i would be disgusted by such a legal system. actually, i might even protest, and ask to go to jail instead, just on principle. or, could i choose the religion? could i go to a jewish synagogue, or a scientology place? or is it just christian, then which denomination. id go scientology cause itd be really interesting

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Permalink Reply by _Robert_ on November 18, 2012 at 5:57pm

...yeah..go to church and learn how to kill people in a legal, sanctioned manner.

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Permalink Reply by _Robert_ on November 18, 2012 at 9:54pm

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Permalink Reply by Marc on November 23, 2012 at 6:30pm

I chuckled when I read this the other day and it brought up questions.

Whose church would I have to go to? His church? Obviously the judge must have know the accused was a believer. If he was a known Rastafarian I'm sure the sentence would have been different. Does the kid get to pick one? If I had to select one and couldn't get out of it without an answer, I'd be a quick convert to the Native American Church, yeah the peyote/mescaline one.

Just serving my time, Yer 'honor',

Marc

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Permalink Reply by Tiffany Willoughby on November 28, 2012 at 10:29am

thats bullshit. sentencing him to church for killing somebody. thats not gonna do anything at all. but yes, if it was me, i'd rather have to put up with church than go to prison. i realize im being hypocritical, but whatever. i guess if he doesnt believe in god church is punishment enough.