Sunday, October 12, 2014

Abraham's Golden Rule and the African Man

Considering the story of humanity being one of conquest, submission, and at times a manufactured scarcity to create a struggle for resources, one must also acknowledge the tremendous ingenuity of our species since branching off from other primate ancestors. We can see what kind of intellectual games our species has evolved to get what we want, to function on the planet and to cope with the human condition. Because of our consciousness and highly evolved use of symbolism, we take stories to heart and sometimes we model our lives after the characters in these stories depending on how they resonate with us and how we view ourselves. We tend to put ourselves in the seat of the hero. This is a natural tendency in our species to project ourselves to a higher social stratification.
The story of Christianity interwoven in the lifestyles of the African American is an example of not only the assimilation and programming from slave masters but also one of syncretism, coping mechanisms and the evolution of meaning in the human psyche. To understand this metamorphosis we need to take an unbiased and objective approach to the beliefs of religions as well as taking an unbiased look at ALL people, with more or less melanin.  We need to look at these elements the same way as we would look at any organism in a habitat on earth. Living organisms that cannot function in the current environment or cannot adapt to changes will be naturally selected out of the ecosystem therefore adaptation is crucial in survival.  We will first briefly look at Christianity in Africa[1] then its evolution throughout Europe and its use among peoples as a means of conquest through to its evolution in the black community in the Americas. That is a good starting point to observe the long term toxicity of certain ideologies and transition from what Christianity was and what it has become in the mind of the African man. We will see that the story of religious faith, conquest, assimilation and syncretism are really a story of gold and economic competition.
            There is a romanticized concept that evil white European Christians came, kidnapped peaceful Africans, forced them into bondage and whipped them until they assimilated. In some instances this may be part of the truth but realistically it is much more complex than that and accounts like this work to demonize another demographic of people. Christianity expanded into Africa in the 1st century CE. [2] It was already an established religion in parts of North Africa as far down as Ethiopia well before any Europeans set foot on the continent but as we see in all ever evolving societies, the Africans incorporated their own nature-worship traditions into the other faiths to make their religions “stronger.” This blending for strength was a characteristic of many native ancient religions as we also saw this with some Native American tribes.  With many African people’s and smaller bands of tribes following traditional African religions, the dominating early empires of African King’s sometimes consumed these smaller groups and either enslaved them, made them convert to the current state religion, or simply left them alone as we see with the African King Tunka-Manin who respected the states sovereignty and traditions. [3]
Islam made its appearance and dominated Africa by the 7th century CE dating back to the prophet Muhammad sending some of his cohorts to Africa for refuge. [4] This created a strong African Muslim Arabic economy complete with a Muslim slave trade for hundreds of years. Many African rulers brought many useful tools for governance and education from the Middle East to Africa when returning from their pilgrimage to Mecca but they also solidified means of exploitation as Abrahamic faiths in general speak of how to keep slaves. The Arabic Muslim slave trade was not racial; they captured and sold slaves across Africa and Europe indiscriminately. The African continent and its states were known far and wide for its seemingly endless gold supply so when certain Muslim rulers like Mansa Musa realized that tolerating the other dominant natural religions in surrounding African states kept their gold coming to him, he was sure to exhibit much diplomacy.  Other tribes were simply enslaved and sold to the Arabic Muslims via the Trans-Saharan Trade routes.
By the 1200’s Christian Europe, growing as a player in the flourishing world economy, gathered knowledge of Africa’s trade routes and close ties to the Middle East through traveling Muslim-to-Christian converts like Leo Africanus. At the same time there was a growing conflict between Christians and Muslims over control of the Iberian Peninsula. [5] Attempting to reap the rewards of the gold in Africa, other goods from India and Africa’s interior, the Portuguese entered Africa on the opposite side of the continent and began its own relationship. In examining one of the earliest contacts of Europe with Africa the journal “Sons of Adam” states an account of Portuguese explorer Infante Henrique: “In his diplomatic en-treaty, Infante Henrique minimized the commercial incentive and fashioned the ‘toils of that conquest’ into a ‘just war’ under the banner of a Christian Crusade.” All these conquests into Africa required papal approval and as “Son’s of Adam” states: “the pope’s authority prevailed, since all humans were of Christ though not with the church. ‘As a result,’ the medievalist James Muldoon notes, ‘the pope’s pastoral responsibilities consisted of jurisdiction over two distinct flocks, one consisting of Christians and one comprising everyone else.’’’ Initially, Pope Innocent IV in the early 1200’s forbade conquest of dominion over “infidel” lands because they did not violate natural law but once revisited, the imperial Christian adherents preferred the evolving state-church relationship and justification of divine nobility over peasant and infidel in their growing nation. The discriminatory practices that were beginning to take shape in Europe with the Christian majority vs the Jewish and Muslim minority began influencing their policies with the wider world. The African states practicing animism were categorized as simply “pagans.” Developing their own economy and their need for slave labor as they expanded across the Atlantic, the Christian Europeans bought slaves who were predominantly from West Africa as these Western smaller states were consumed by larger Muslim African empires. The majority of these newly enslaved Western Africans were not Muslim or Christian but many variations of religions which made it hard for them to live in peace and made it easy for the larger African Empires to control them.[6]  By the 1500’s the trans-Atlantic slave trade was born and it was based on the oppression of smaller tribes by the larger Muslim African Empire, and the religious zealotry, greed and expansion obsession of the Christian Europeans trying to play catch up. This left the early West African slave to be nothing more than a pawn of two competing growing economies, one Muslim trade route that was long established, and another one blossoming from Christian European domination moving to the west.  
From the “seasoning process” of the slave in the Caribbean to the labor in the America’s, the European’s taught their faith to the African’s which consisted of not only a firm belief that the Europeans were superior with a superior religion but also acted to keep slaves subservient. By the 1600’s a biblical ideology that involved the story of Ham, Abraham’s son, had already been used to enslave people of all colors depending on who was the oppressor at the time. This story where Ham’s son Canaan is condemned to a life of servitude was employed as divine order to degrade and discriminate against groups of people. This biblical story was exploited by Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the previous centuries dating back to Ethiopian slaves in old Arabia which eventually conflated “blackness” with servitude. [7] In the America’s the ideology was well solidified and became a simple truth to many of the slave masters.
Slavery evolved gradually in the new colonies acknowledging that the early slaves were merely indentured servants who were represented by people of all colors. As the economy expanded and the necessity for cheap or free labor grew, so did the Christian justification for slavery, ironically. One of the greatest scholars the United States has ever produced W.E.B. DuBois writes of the black man’s assimilation: “Nothing suited his condition better than the doctrines of passive submission embodied in the newly learned Christianity. Slave masters early realized this, and cheerfully aided religious propaganda within certain bounds. The long system of repression and degradation of the Negro tended to emphasize the elements in his character which made him a valuable chattel: courtesy became humility, moral strength degenerated into submission, and the exquisite native appreciation of the beautiful became and infinite capacity for dumb suffering.” Their new economic position gave Africans no hope in this life but as Christianity promises, the rewards will be in the next life when the savior returns. DuBois states, “The Negro losing the joy of this world, eagerly seized upon the offered conceptions of the next…this became a comforting dream.”[8]  The slave masters made sure to educate the African man just on what they felt was safe and applicable to keep them subservient. The slave had no option to learn to read and relied solely on what was told to them. However this brainwashing propaganda merged with their own African religious ritual as many accompanied their native songs with concepts of the new “faith.” This was a replay of many of their African ancestors as we can see a religious syncretism even to this day throughout the African continent. Many traditional and native ceremonies were mixed with icons from the dominating culture’s belief systems and integrated in traditional songs and dance of the enslaved people.
Throughout the south as the economy of America grew through the African man’s nonstop free labor, the Christian faith was not only a new part of the black man’s existence, it was the center of the black community as church meetings were where all issues were discussed, problems were solved and secretive plans were made. The importance of the church and community came about from the black man’s need for hope but also from the benefits that the American oppressors afforded them if and ONLY if they converted to Christianity. As the European countries fought each other overseas and “ownership” of the US colonies exchanged hands, different stipulations were placed on the slaves from whichever country was controlling at the time. By the 1700’s the American states had moved from policies of white, Native American and African indentured servitude, to white servitude, genocide of natives and no possible freedom for blacks unless through manumission. In some parts of the country blacks were afforded more freedoms and this lead to a cultural foundation. Some more sympathetic masters taught their slaves to read and as the African now African American man evolved his ideologies with his plight, other stories from the bible began serving as a catalyst for progressive ideas of real freedom in THIS life as opposed to the afterlife. The story of the Jews exodus from Egypt to freedom enticed black men and women as a calling from their new almighty god to take action against their bondage. The biblical references emboldened the African American community and for the first time they saw themselves as the “chosen people of god” like the Jews. This fueled men like Nat Turner to go on a rampage killing all white people. He undoubtedly had some other mental deficiencies as he regularly heard voices and saw visions, but his obsessive compulsion with the bible made him an indifferent killer believing he was doing god’s work. These new black evangelical leaders empowered their listeners and created a new dynamic in the north and south.
Different conflicting interpretations of the bible started surfacing through the Quaker movement who were the first people to organize societies for the abolition of slavery. The book that had discussed slavery with detailed instructions on how to own other humans was now being used to justify freedom for all men from scripture citing all men’s equality under a god. The contradictions played out in the United States in different pockets of the country with alternative agendas.[9] 
After the revolutionary war the white man declared an epic freedom from tyranny, at the same time these same words were being used by the black slave population who were looking to free themselves as well. The early black Christian church was used as a means of mobilization for a repressed people. This demographic of people with more melanin focused on the freedom, emancipation, and good graces of the Christian god in the bible whereas another demographic with less melanin used the same Christian god to prove that slavery was just a part of the “plan.”  Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America proudly stated: "[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God...it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation...it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts."[10]  In-between these incompatible interpretations of ancient people’s ideas of society were opposing influential black leaders like Jupiter Hammon who believed it was every black person’s Christian duty to patiently await the end of slavery and appease his slave masters and Olaudah Equiano who loudly opposed the Christian slave masters as hypocrites and vigorously opposed the institution.
From the early African roots of ritualistic magic, song, and dance representative of many traditional society religions, the only thing really missing in the syncretism with Christianity is the element of sacrifice, though many Africans continue sacrificial practice in Africa alongside Christianity. Today’s black church has the characteristic 3 elements DuBois named as the Preacher, the Music, and the Frenzy. The origins of these things long predate any concepts of Christianity as they are generally central to any traditional ceremony or gathering of people. The Preacher is an orator and a leader. He is one who touches the soul of the congregants. The Music is used to move and create a rhythmic environment for a sort of hypnosis to reach outside oneself and finally the Frenzy is when a congregant is thought to be actually touched by the god.[11] Without this element a person has not yet “reached” the ultimate level. The frenzy looks very similar to spiritual possession in older Vodun practices and the evolution to this modern form is easy to link.
As I analyze all this information and meld it with my other knowledge on anthropology, history, philosophy and theology, I see the church to this day is still a therapeutic organization that brings people together in a community and predicates on the strength of the whole banding together, however this is not a positive thing when considering the community of KKK members joining together in hatred. It seems like African American church devotees do not care so much that their “faith” was forced on their “people” at a point when all other elements of what they knew themselves to be as a culture was destroyed. It may be too painful to think about. The idea may also be that the end may have justified the means because now they are “saved” or “found.” When looking at the religion as an organism though, I do not see it anywhere close to that. If religions serve a function and fight to exist, having what we would call a “fitness” like in an organism, their fitness is based on “reproductive ability” which translates to adherents child birth rates, infant mortality rates, the destruction of other opposing ideas, conversion-deconversion rates,  and life expectancy of adherents.[12] This faith has “survived” because of, not through, the decimation of many cultures. We can have faith in anything, so how could one choose which claim to believe? If a person is not strict in basing their beliefs on concrete testable evidence, then why of all the intangible speculative things to put ones faith in would someone accept something as truth from people who had no interest in their well-being and furthermore used this belief to demean, pacify and degrade their existence? We have seen studies of black school girls picking white dolls to play with because they looked “nicer” in America. Most all images of the savior of all mankind in the Christian religion is shown as a Caucasian. These images have created the infrastructure for institutional colorism. I prefer to call it colorism because there is only the human race and this race has people with more and less melanin depending on folic acid and vitamin D intake. The concepts of “the dark” and going to “the light” are a constant theme in Christianity and it wreaks havoc on the human psyche. With these Western watered down clumsy concepts of the “good and pure” being white and the “evil and imperfect” being black, we will continually keep recycling the same discrimination. Doesn’t it make more sense that people use anything around them to aid in their struggle to survive, even if it was taught by OTHER people who wanted complete control? The belief is just a passing fad, however the ACTIONS of the people who fight to survive is much more commendable and our species has shown that it will take a toxic theme and twist it to change their predicament for the better. That to me is the beauty of life and will long endure any controlled mental manipulation.
                                                   Bibliography
   
"AFRICAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS | Tewahedo | Palo | Serer | Tijaniyyah | Vodon." AFRICAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS | Tewahedo | Palo | Serer | Tijaniyyah | Vodon. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
"The Story of Africa." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Franklin, John Hope, and Alfred A. Moss. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. Print.
"Islam in Africa." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Bennett, Herman L. ""Sons of Adam": Text, Context, and the Early Modern African Subject." Representations 92.1 (2005): 16-41. Print.
 "Culture and Religion in West-Africa." - Atlas West-Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Lee, Felicia R. "From Noah's Curse to Slavery's Rationale." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
B., Du Bois W. E. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1961. Print.
"Slavery and the Making of America." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
"By Their Strange Fruit." Religious Roots of Racism -. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Diamond, Jared M. The World until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? New York: Viking, 2012. Print.




[1] "AFRICAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS | Tewahedo | Palo | Serer | Tijaniyyah | Vodon." AFRICAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS | Tewahedo | Palo | Serer | Tijaniyyah | Vodon. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
[2] "The Story of Africa." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
[3] Franklin, John Hope, and Alfred A. Moss. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. Print.
[4] "Islam in Africa." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
[5] Bennett, Herman L. ""Sons of Adam": Text, Context, and the Early Modern African Subject." Representations 92.1 (2005): 16-41. Print.
[6] "Culture and Religion in West-Africa." - Atlas West-Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
[7] Lee, Felicia R. "From Noah's Curse to Slavery's Rationale." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
[8] B., Du Bois W. E. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1961. Print.
[9] "Slavery and the Making of America." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
[10] "By Their Strange Fruit." Religious Roots of Racism -. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
[11] B., Du Bois W. E. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1961. Print.
[12] Diamond, Jared M. The World until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? New York: Viking, 2012. Print.

Private Prison Speech from 2011

I just gave a speech on Private Prisons in the US last week in a class. I researched the hell out of it. Get your mind blown. I wouldve expanded on the link between recidivism and education too but it was timed so I had to consolidate.

Pedro and Emily, a happy married couple exited their house with their son Logan when they were approached by ICE Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers. They handcuffed Pedro in front of his wife and son and took him away. He was held for 19 months on charges of neglecting an order of deportation that had been sent to the wrong address. He was considered an immigrant by the law overnight when his mother made a mistake in a permanent residency interview. Undocumented immigrant or not, the prison made $71,520 dollars for the 19 months he was detained and it greatly effected Logan, his son and his wife. "I was scared, but in the back of my mind I just felt like everything would eventually be OK because I was a citizen and he was married to me," said Emily Guzman, 33, a mental health therapist who was born and raised in the U.S. as stated in Kelsey Sheehy’s article in the Mclatchy Tribune News Service Nov 2011.

This is the reality for all minorities in dealing with the growing prison industrial complex in the US where the “business” gets paid per prisoner, per day. Vince Beiser states in “Jailing for Dollars” in New Leader 1997, Vol. 80: “An industry whose raw materials are incarcerated human beings has every reason to support policies that get more and more Americans thrown in jail for longer and longer sentences, regardless of their objective merits.” We can see this truth in cases like Pedro’s among many others, with policies implemented by politicians who are getting a payoff. This conflict of interest is what has consumed our judicial system and has even put innocent people to death.

I am going to inform you about the detrimental self-serving machine the judicial system has become to make private interests rich. I will explain how private prisons affect minorities, what the causes are and what needs to be done to truly have justice in the US.

 To understand the problem of this so called “need” for private prisons due to overcrowding, we need to look at who is targeted by legislation to get more people in prison for longer periods of time and what conditions have actually led to death for some male inmates from inadequate medical attention, raping of women, and child abuse.

Prison affects everyone. Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice think tank states in “Prison Building Boom” in Nov 2011 found in CQ Researcher: “In some places, kids see more people go to prison than they do leave for work every morning. What kind of message is that sending?”

The sad reality of our obsession with incarceration is evident when comparing our stats to the rest of the world. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.gov, in 2009, a little less than 2.3 million Americans were incarcerated. Albert Hunt breaks down the facts for us in his article “Incarceration: We’re Number One”, in Tulsa World, published this year, “There are 2.3 million people behind bars, almost one in every 100 Americans. The federal prison population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, and one in nine black children has a parent in jail.

With just a little more than 4 percent of the world's population, the U.S. accounts for a quarter of the planet's prisoners, and has more inmates than the leading 35 European countries combined. Almost all the other nations with high per capita prison rates are in the developing world.” The mindboggling statistic that hits home the hardest is that more than 60 percent of America's prisoners are black or Hispanic, though these groups comprise less than 30 percent of the population. If you haven’t noticed, there seems to be something very wrong here. Because of the US having the largest number of people in prison there is a high demand and a “necessity” to build prisons bigger and faster and the proponents of the industry of course claim it can be achieved cheaply through private prisons.

The problem lies with prisons that are supposed to house violent criminals, becoming a business where just like in any other business, shareholders need a return on their investments which translates to more people in prison. The detriment is multiplied when the investors are also the policymakers. GEO Group and Corrections Corp of America are the nation’s two largest companies that build, design, and operate prisons. Peter Cervantes Gautschi explains in ‘Wallstreet and our Campaign to Decriminalize Immigrants’ published by Masterfile premier in Nov 2010, “For the first time, many of those picked up were charged with crimes that carry long prison sentences. Soon after the Bush Administration implemented this change in law enforcement affecting immigrants, Wall Street advisors publicly recommended buying stock in private prison companies like CCA and GEO. One would like to think that bringing this information to Congress's attention would be enough to compel them to abandon policies that criminalize immigrants. This probable hesitation for Congress to act is not merely because of the substantial campaign contributions that Senators and members of Congress receive from the private prison industry. Most members of Congress have personal investments in one or more of CCA's or GEO's major shareholders.”

As I have illustrated, there is a huge conflict of interest in our “justice” system when a certain demographic of people are specifically singled out to make another demographic of people money. Needless to say, this is not how “justice” works, justice is not a business.

So what are the causes of people in prison? Besides greed, racism plays a big part all over the country and it is not just against Hispanic immigrants which we see in the stats regarding African American men. In the Chicago Tribune article entitled “How to scrub the stain of the Burge era” Aug 18, 2011 we hear another example of the US justice system’s vendetta against minorities. “Last year, former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge was convicted of lying under oath about the systematic torture of African-American men that took place for decades at the Area 2 police headquarters.” This police lt was finally convicted of decades of torture of over 100 black inmates to make them confess to crimes they didn’t commit last year. This is not an isolated incident.

Another prime example of the racism in our system deals with the sentencing of violent criminals, especially in murder cases. In Veronica Gonzalez’s article “Racial Disparity Remains Wide in Death Sentences” in the Star News in Aug 2010 she writes: “Radelet and Glenn Pierce, a research scientist in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston, analyzed data from North Carolina from 1980 to the end of 2007 and found that the odds of getting a death sentence are 2.96 times higher for those who kill whites than for those who kill blacks.” Michelle Alexander points out in her article “Cruel and Unusual” in Sojourners magazine in 2011 “Black and whites use drugs at about the same rate, yet African Americans are 10 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses. These are the unbalanced effects of the ‘war on drugs.’”

Because the private prison system is such a complex issue, we can look at these examples of racism as also an effect. The underlying cause of racism goes back to many variables: insecurity, anger, fear and a lack of education. The system shows flaws from the streets, through the policing actions, through the court system itself to get minorities behind bars to profit the investors. It is hard to deny the motives behind the actions of the state as being anything but racist, unethical and money hungry.

Now I will expound on what needs to be done to combat this injustice at the national level.

In examining hard facts and statistics of prison demographics, and acknowledging the causes in the form of various forms of racism in the system from conviction to punishment, one thing is paramount in the solutions for these flaws: Education. In the Concord Monitor article “Early education prevents crime :Federal initiative will pay dividends” in 2009, Katherine Rogers states, “One of the most effective ways of reducing crime is providing at-risk kids access to quality early education. Research shows that giving children a chance to experience high-quality early learning can reduce later incarceration by a quarter or more - eventually saving our state $25 million every year through reduced prison costs.” A better quality education early on would, hands down, cut crime in all ethnicities and cut down on racism across the board.

Another simple way policy makers are able to criminalize minorities is by stricter drug laws that seem to pertain only to minorities. As stated above, only a certain demographic of people are being prosecuted for illicit drug use and it makes up a large percentage of the prison population. In “A Second Chance for Nonviolent Drug Offenders” printed by Harvard Law Review in 2011 we read “In 1992, 92.6 % of those convicted for crime involving crack cocaine were black, yet the US sentencing commission estimated that 65% of all crack cocaine users are white.” The US govt needs to push for more treatment programs across the board to help all ethnicities, if not legalize some drugs all together.

The question is, what can YOU do? Once again it goes back to education because you need to educate yourselves on who you are voting for, if you are voting. Remember, your votes count for the local and state elected officials even if you are cynical about our presidential indirect democracy. Voting for your local and state officials does count and they’re the ones who are going to make decisions in your state. We need to be proactive and not be afraid to stand up and call out the racism and injustice when we see it. It will affect you someday and that is almost a promise.

I’ve spent months incarcerated. I dealt with gang wars running with a Hispanic gang in jail and I can tell you, we are taught to look at each other differently and it is perpetuated in jail more than anywhere, while we minorities were the only ones in there. At time there was no rep for the wood car because there were so few. I’m not claiming I didn’t deserve to be there but I saw the business first hand as they kept beds filled at all times when they didn’t have to. It was filled with addicts who needed help, and there were no elements of correction in the correctional facility.

Bibliography

 CERVANTES-GAUTSCHI, PETER. "Wall Street & Our Campaign To Decriminalize Immigrants." Social Policy 40.3 (2010): 3. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

Symbolic Racism and Whites' Attitudes towards Punitive and Preventive Crime Policies Eva G. T. Green, Christian Staerklé and David O. Sears Law and Human Behavior , Vol. 30, No. 4 (Aug., 2006), pp. 435-454

Private Prisons Richard Harding Crime and Justice , Vol. 28, (2001), pp. 265-346 Published by: The University of Chicago Press TONY, JOHNSTON.

"Making Crime Pay." Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (n.d.): Newspaper Source. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. Chen, Stephanie.

"Larger Inmate Population Is Boon to Private Prisons." Wall Street Journal. 19 Nov 2008: A.4. SIRS Issues Researcher.Web. 14 Nov 2011. Kelsey Sheehy.

 "Family's saga highlights kinks in immigrant detention system. " McClatchy - Tribune News Service 21 April 2011 ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. ALBERT R HUNT.

 "Incarceration: We're No. 1. " Tulsa World 27 Nov. 2011, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. Hooks, GregoryMosher, ClaytonGenter, ShaunRotolo, ThomasLobao, Linda.

"Revisiting The Impact Of Prison Building On Job Growth: Education, Incarceration, And County-Level Employment, 1976–2004." Social Science Quarterly (Blackwell Publishing Limited) 91.1 (2010): 228-244. Professional Development Collection. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. Masci, David.

"Prison-Building Boom." CQ Researcher 17 Sept. 1999: 801-24. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. "How to scrub the stain of the Burge era. " Chicago Tribune 18 Aug. 2011,Chicago Tribune, ProQuest. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. Veronica Gonzalez.

 "Racial disparity remains wide in death sentences. " Star - News 8 Aug. 2010, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. Alexander, M..

"CRUEL AND UNEQUAL. " Sojourners Magazine 1 Feb. 2011: Humanities Module, ProQuest. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. KATHERINE ROGERS, and SCOTT HILLIARD.

"Early education prevents crime :Federal initiative will pay dividends. " Concord Monitor 22 Sep. 2009, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

 Winning The War On Drugs: A `Second Chance' For Nonviolent Drug Offenders." Harvard Law Review 113.6 (2000): 1485. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

UnAmerican Religious Preference

We as a nation are constantly progressing to live up to the implications of our most cherished documents. The constitution and the bill of rights are two documents that define who and what we do as a nation, or at least they should. The forefathers were not perfect but many of them were men of the “enlightenment” who saw the hypocrisy and obscene power the religious institutions from their mother country had utilized to stamp out freedoms that we enjoy today. The first amendment is one of the most highly regarded freedoms that we as a nation have been built on. This amendment states in part “Congress shall make no law respecting an established religion or prohibiting the free exercise there-of.” This means under no circumstances, should any religion receive special treatment from our elected officials who make up the federal government in Congress. In the U.S., the tax exemption of religious institutions is congress sending a clear and unconstitutional message to the United States public: “A specific demographic of people are above United States law and through government subsidies, the general public, whether they are religious or not, will indirectly pay for these institutions to thrive.” Aside from this blatant hypocrisy and coddling of organized religion by congress, it is allowing for unprecedented amounts of money to be dumped into political campaigns from religious institutions for candidates that essentially protect ONE specific set of ideals to be legislated into law. Yes there are lobbyists and corporations who do the same thing but the difference is they are taxed. These are the kinds of concessions that the US forefathers were specifically against as they knew from their history. Tax exemptions in the United States began for “charitable organizations” in 1894 under the Wilson-Gorman Act which later was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1895. The revenue act of 1909 used the same language as the Wilson-Gorman act and tax exemptions remained this way for the next century. The problem is that of all these charitable organizations, the religious institutions were some of the only organizations that have been exempt from a government implemented “unrelated business income tax” (also known as UBIT’s), that taxed donations received FROM businesses that have nothing to do with the “non-profit’s” mission. This means that if “charity” is the mission of the organization for it to be considered tax exempt, collecting money from private corporations that are the antithesis of charitable, for the sake of argument say like the extremely religious weapons manufacturer Trijcon best known for placing bible scripture on its ammunition and assault rifles, would go untaxed. Not only are tax exemptions for religious institutions unconstitutional, they are unethical in a variety of ways. Let us examine how and why.  

If we inspect who the largest recipients of charity from these charitable organizations are, we have only to look as far as the actual institution of the church itself. Top mega church pastors live on salaries of up to $400,000 a year. This salary amount is also what the United States president makes. In “Research Report: How Secular Humanists (and Everyone Else) Subsidize Religion in the United States” by Ryan T. Cragun, Stephanie Yeager, and Desmond Vega, a study is cited calculating the expenditures of 271 US congregations. We see that on average, 71% of the donations went to “operating expenses”, which include ministers salaries. According to the Better Business Bureau’s standards for a charitable organization to be legitimate, 65% of its total expenses need to be on program activities. These two different definitions get blurred when considering “operating expenses” do not necessarily mean program activities, nor does it include pastor’s salaries.  In Jesse Bogan’s Forbes article in 09, “America’s Biggest Megachurches,” he states that in the US, an average megachurch’s annual income was around 8.5 billion. Of course there are many churches that ARE extremely generous and do great work but when revenues reach billions, we need to reconsider how accountable these institutions are. 

If we set a standard that a charitable organization must at least donate a modest 50% of income to those in need, the statistics show the majority of church’s in the US would not meet this criteria. “Food for the Poor” is a religious organization that donates 95% of its revenue DIRECTLY to hunger relief. This should set the precedent for a true charitable organization. Besides that, secular organizations, such as the taxed corporation Microsoft, have donated 6 BILLION in the past 30 years in the form of cash and charitable donations. Does this astounding charity amount justify Microsoft in being tax exempt? Absolutely not, as it should not justify allowing Congress to favor religious institutions that ultimately still are selling something. 

The ultimate business ploy which is currently being used by pharmaceutical companies is also being used by the largest religious demographic in the US. The idea is to invent a disease and then present the cure at a price. For “big pharma,” the disease can come in many forms from restless leg syndrome to exaggerated stomach issues. In the US’ largest religious group Christianity, the invented problem is sin and the cure is the savior for your “eternal soul” and church. Something is still being sold to the public whether it is tangible or not. There is not one person on the planet born subscribing to these doctrines; they must be taught these ideas and for it to stick, people need to be taught young while they are impressionable, which leads to revenue for the church.    

This leads us to the next detriment that church tax exemption is causing society. Because of this dated exclusivity of religious institutions paying zero taxes on donations from businesses, they have deep pockets to push their own agendas.  In “CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS: A STUDY OF CURRENT PRACTICES IN THE LOCAL CHURCH” we read “A recent report noted that 37 foundations provided $168 million to approximately 700 evangelical Christian organizations over a four year period. The organizations focus primarily on such issues as making abortion illegal, banning same-sex marriage and promoting school prayer.” Though fighting for these causes is not illegal, it should not be sanctioned by the US government. The argument that congress is not biased to these causes falls short considering the fact that over 85% of Congress is either Protestant or Catholic, both subscribers to the Bible. This may not seem like an issue until we realize where this funding leads us when it comes to legislation. 

Donations and pushing for a cause are an American right but where the conflict of interest becomes unacceptable is when these religious institutions violate their tax exemption provisions by directly endorsing political candidates from the pulpit and fail to lose their exemption status. Over the past 6 decades, religious organizations, and most notably the Christian right, have influenced US law and legislation since the civil rights era where fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were fervent opponents of social equality. Their first mission was to get African Americans out of their Christian churches, then after that battle was lost, the focus moved to gay marriage and anti-abortion legislation. In the peer reviewed journal “Abortion in the United States’ bible belt: organizing for power and empowerment,” Mary Anne Castle writes “The Christian Right raises billions of dollars to support ultra-conservative state-level candidates and legislators to promulgate their religious views. These philanthropists have developed interconnected funding priorities and strategies to advance their public policy agenda.” Not only is the separation of church and state completely violated by these actions, this specific organization has no regard or respect for the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli. The Treaty of Tripoli, ratified UNANIMOUSLY by congress and signed by President John Adams, states specifically “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” In a nation of immigrants, that is built on religious freedom, upheld by a government constitution that refuses to respect any specific religion or favor one over another, tax exemption that allows one religion to permeate political discourse, push its ideals on the majority and influence with unlimited funding with no accountability, is not part of a democracy. It is the making of a theocracy.  

There is an argument that it is unconstitutional to tax churches because that in itself is infringing on religious autonomy. That would be substantiated if religion would stay out of government affairs, would stop pushing political propaganda at church services, stop dumping millions into political candidates, and stop receiving “unrelated business income.”  This has been a reality since 1950 under the Revenue Act. Accepting income from taxable businesses that can then write off those donations, from businesses that have nothing to do with the church’s mission, is another form of engaging in embezzlement. Active right now, there is an organization known as “the Family” or “the Fellowship” that is one of the largest most powerful evangelical groups in the US who are taking steps, utilizing income from congregations and businesses, to orchestrate government actions. Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power” said in an interview with Amy Goodman on the news network Democracy Now in 09: “conservative-leaning sociologist at Rice University D. Michael Lindsay surveyed about 360 evangelical politicians and wanted to ask them which religious groups were really influential in Washington. The group that came out with more votes than any other, one in three, was the Family….with millions of dollars flowing through every year. It’s a group of friends that organizes the National Prayer Breakfast, at which the President of the United States speaks every year, that has the money to bring over foreign heads of state, and they can get those people into the White House.” Consider also the amount of money spent settling the sex abuse scandals rampant in the untaxed international Catholic Church. Associated Press estimated that the settlements to the victims of these heinous acts by these men collectively cost 2 billion dollars from 1950 to 2007 and since then, many more cases have surfaced internationally. Quite simply put, if religions have the money to protect pedophile priests, if they can stop homosexuals from being married by dumping millions into candidates and organizers to push for inequality legislation, if they can send missionaries to work on banning contraception in countries with little resources essentially boosting unwanted pregnancy and STD rates, if they have millions to pour into weapons contractors to print bible scriptures on ammunition for war, they can afford to pay taxes to help build a road in America. 

The reasonable and extremely generous solution would be to keep all the stipulations of the current policies to qualify for tax exemption status as a charitable organization, which a religious organization can apply for, BUT they must prove that 75% of all their donations must go to aid programs to people in need, no matter who they are and regardless of their religion, sexual orientation and political affiliation. Religious organizations cannot apply for tax exemption status on the grounds of only being a religious institution; they must provide a service to the community which would include food programs, shelter, school supplies for children or adults, and clothes with the funds that are donated to them. The aid must be able to be accounted for and calculated. There is too much room for possible fraudulent activity when an organization measures its aid by enforcing its own interpretation of morality alone and because of this possible margin for irresponsibility, proselyting will be banned. These funds and allocated monies will be subject to quarterly audits. There will unequivocally be unrelated taxable business income on every religious organization EXCEPT the ones that apply for tax exempt charitable organization status and who prove that 75% of their donations go to aid programs for the needy. 

These strict but reasonable stipulations will put a stop to profitable religious businesses that prey on people’s faith and hope simply to boost their own egos, sense of self-importance and more importantly, boost unfettered profits that go tax free to push political agendas completely blurring the lines between separation of church and state. It will greatly help out the federal government that is currently losing out on billions annually that could go to projects and programs that can help the entire country. It will put a sanction on the free flow of capital to political officials that push a specific agenda, which ultimately translates to legislation that favors a demographic of religious people. Simply put, the constitution will be upheld, and most importantly, the people who are supposed to be the recipients of these charitable organizations will actually receive the charity! 

Let us for the sake of argument compare a megachurch to the huge corporate giant Microsoft or Apple, whose contributions to society, specifically in Microsoft’s case, can be measured in terms of its generous donations to education and electronics to colleges, educational institutions and low income regions. Because we cannot measure how many souls are saved and judge a church by this, we must look at something tangible and look at evidence, the way we make reasonable decisions about most things in our world. Last year, Microsoft paid 4.5 billion in taxes. According to Ryan Cragun a University of Tampa Sociology Professor, the US forgoes around 71 billion a year in not taxing religious institutions. This is quite a big difference when examining the measurable and crucial aid Microsoft charitably gives to the future of this nation on a regular basis. The US megachurch should be treated like Microsoft because like I have stated earlier, it is selling hope, salvation and the IDEA of eternal life. When comparing the great things Microsoft does and the amount of money it pays in taxes vs. the megachurch where 71% of its incoming billions in donations go to administration, pays no taxes yet promises an intangible product, we see the US population has been happily sabotaging their own interests in the footsteps of many populations overtime in the past who have hoisted the people like the purveyors of the inquisition, crusades and witch hunts to god like status. If you think this comparison of a megachurch to a mega corporation is irrational, do not listen to just me, take neuroscience’s word for it. In “Don't Call Them Fanboys now, Call Them Acolytes,” a piece written for Business Insider by Alyson Shontell, she writes “They compared MRIs of Apple fans' brains to those of people who call themselves ‘very religious’ and found that Apple and religion light up the same part of the brain. This means that Apple triggers the same feelings and reactions in people as religion.” Whether it is a new electronic, or the holy spirit, the brain perceives both similarly.    

Aside from the concrete evidence of the charity as well as accurate percentages of where the money is being allocated, provisions such as what I propose will root out “startups.” “Startup churches,” that are essentially invented, can avoid paying property tax simply on the basis of being called “church.” With guaranteed audits to ensure a specific percentage of donations go to aid programs, MORE people will be helped with this 25% administrative cost provision, and if they fail to meet this criteria, they get taxed which again ensures the most people benefit.  

Overall, taxing the business that is the mega church is not only a reasonable request; it is an ethically logical one. It is not to punish or infringe on religious freedom, it is simply to stop non-religious citizens from paying for religious group’s exemption, it helps insure that the people who need the charity are truly receiving it, and generally helps uphold democracy. This country was founded on religious freedom and all of us working together to make society work, which does not and has never included disguising unfettered capitalism as eternal life.     
                                                         













                                                           Bibliography

Barrick, Audrey. "Report Reveals Salaries of Megachurch Pastors." Christian Post. Pew Research Center, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Cragun, Ryan T., Stephanie Yeager, and Desmond Vega. "Council for Secular Humanism." Council for Secular Humanism. Council for Secular Humanism, 29 Apr. 2013. 
Web. 2 23. "Why Don't Churches Pay Taxes?" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 23 Sept. 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.8 Apr. 2013.
Bogan, Jesse. "America's Biggest Megachurches." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 26 June 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Sams, Brad. "Microsoft's Donated 3.9 Billion Dollars to Non-profits to Date." .net. Neowin.net, 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Arnsberger, Paul, Melissa Ludlam, and Mark Stanton. "A History of the Tax-Exempt Sector: An SOI Perspective." IRS.gov. US Government, n.d. Web.
Elson, Raymond J., Susanne O'Callahan, and John P. Walker. "CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS: A STUDY OF CURRENT PRACTICES IN THE LOCAL CHURCH." Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, Suppl. Special Issue: Governmental and Not for Profit Issues11 (2007): 97. 11 (2007): 97. ProQuest. Web.
Katz, Wilber G. "Radiations from Church Tax Exemption." The Supreme Court Review (1960-2011): 99. JSTOR. Web.
"Catholic Sex Abuse Cases." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
"Faith on the Hill: The Religious Composition of the 112th Congress - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life." Faith on the Hill: The Religious Composition of the 112th Congress - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Pew Research Center, 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
"Standards for Charity Accountability." - U.S. BBB. Better Business Bureau, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
"Jeff Sharlet on "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power"" Democracy Now! Democracy Now, 12 Aug. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Castle, Mary Ann. "Abortion in the United States' Bible Belt: Organizing for Power and Empowerment." Abortion in the United States’ Bible Belt: Organizing for Power and Empowerment 8.1 (2011): n. pag. Reproductive Health. Reproductive Health Journal. Web. 28 
Apr. 201 RHEE, JOSEPH, TAHMAN BRADLEY, and BRIAN ROSS. "U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes." ABC News. ABC News Network, 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.3.
"Finances — 2011 Annual Report." Food For The Poor. Food For The Poor, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Winston, Kimberly. "Study Challenges Tax Exemption for Religious Organizations." USATODAY.COM. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2013.
McIntyre, Douglas. "Companies Paying the Most in Income Taxes." n.d.: n. pag. USA Today. Gannett. Web. 21 May 2013.
Shontell, Alyson. "Don't Call Them Fanboys Now, Call Them Acolytes." Msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2013.