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Christianity Today, June, 2008 |

The Great (Non)debate

Why are the candidates ignoring the huge problem under our noses?

Charles Colson, with Anne Morse | posted 6/24/2008 08:54AM

The presidential campaign has been in full swing for 12 months now, and we've heard about every conceivable issue—the economy, Iraq, the candidates' religious beliefs, and who's most qualified to ...

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Ray	Posted: July 04, 2008 6:29 AM


Well, good article I agree with the author. I believe if crime can be eredicated we can use that money to create job opportunities and improve youth programs and so forth. Crime is costing our government!

victor pauls

Posted: June 26, 2008 12:26 PM


Excellent! Sinful human nature and the drug problem are the major causes of crime. God Bless you in your ministry!!

Steve Skeete

Posted: June 25, 2008 2:41 PM

"The author ignores the fact that 85% of all crime is drug related". This is a mind-boggling statistic to which I would like to hear an informed response, because if it is anywhere near true, then issues such as decriminilization, alternative sentencing etc., must be given serious consideration. Again, if "85% of all crime is drug related" and one percent of the nation's populated is incarcerated then I have to agree with Colson. What on earth are these presidential candidates discussing if not the drug trade, the "war on drugs", prison reform, education and family life? And why not place faith on the platform as well? Any serious candidate ought to ask himherself what kind of society produces this amount of law-breakers and drug users? And what kind of "Christian" society produces these staggering statistics? The Church needs to wake up as well and inquire as to the nature of a faith that produces such tainted fruit.

Anna	Posted: June 24, 2008 10:31 PM

European immigration doesn't exist anymore thanks to the way immigration law is now set up. Have you looked around. Immigration is now coming from South America, Asia and Middle East countries. Educated Asians accept the new lower wages in jobs that use to pay living wages so they get hired 1st, citizens 2nd or 3rd. Than as citizens are kicked out of the paying jobs, they sink to the middle wages which kicks out those citizens trying to move up who are than kicked down to low jobs which the Mexicans and other South Americans are taking. American citizens end of going to drugs ending up with bad marriages with no Father families. All thanks to our Congress who do nothing to stop this downward cycle. And it isn't finished yet. Congress has forgotten who voted them in, they pass every law to favor those coming to this country while the legal citizen pays with lower wage jobs or no jobs. And Wal-Mart workers need to Unionize to up their wages not rely on lawsuits thru the courts.

Paul	Posted: June 24, 2008 5:24 PM

The Pew Center did a 2008 study on the prison population, so there are updated statistics about the incarceration rates in the U.S., which now show that 1 in every 99.1 people in the U.S. is incarcerated. It doesn't take a lot study, just some reading to find out that the prison system is deeply flawed and that there is a direct correlation between incarcerating a very large group of people who comprise the work force and economic stagnation. Colson should read another Harvard Sociologist named William J. Wilson, who wrote, When Work Disappears, detailing the fact that from 1970 onward there was a huge "outmigration" of the cities by the working poor, leaving the unemployed poor with no social cohesion through churches, organizations, families, and in turn caused the spread of the ghetto's from 1970 to 1990. Also, in terms of racism, the rise of European immigration can also be attributed to redlining mortgages, and restrictive covenants in "all white" neighborhoods.

Kim	Posted: June 24, 2008 3:55 PM

Very well written and thoughtful. I agree, our sin nature is at work. We can and should address that and in doing so bring light to a dark, dark world. We must also stop skirting the issue. We're allowed to say that word. We should not try to be so politically correct that we won't. We must also stop accepting this generic sort of god that society wants to believe in. God isn't a vending machine and doesn't sit there waiting to dole out blessings unconditionally. He is God, we are to obey the commandments and ask for forgiveness when we fail. We're to reverence Him, acknowledge Him. We're not to appease others who want their generic, one size fits all god to placate our whims. He can/will/might've already......given society over to that reprobate mind. It's our job to proclaim Him. In doing so, we open doorways to acknowledging that sin even exists! Some don't think it does, you know.

Alan Paul

Posted: June 24, 2008 1:45 PM

He doesn't ignore anything Jim - he rejects your view. He is saying the root cause is sin - not drug abuse or racism (always have to play the race card don't we?) or anything else. I do note that he does agree that they play a role - but they aren't the root cause. You seem to be like most... nobody wants to agree that sin is the root - it's an unpopular stance. But history has proven this true time and time again - despite our best efforts to ignore it. When we begin dealing with crime (and every other moral issue) on that level, we will being to see results.

Chionesu

Posted: June 24, 2008 12:46 PM

Jim and Howard: There is nothing more "than sin at work here", but many people don't know how sin has affected every point of human civilization and earth itself. To personify the subject, morally, sin doesn't care what method it uses, just as long as it keeps people spiritually enslaved and separated from God: drugs, greed, revenge, injustice -- it doesn't matter. Sin corrupts people, and by good people addressing the root cause - sin - then the symptoms of poverty, drug use, racism, sexual immorality, etc. can be dealt with properly. Sin has corrupted mankind's physiology in addition to his spirit, or do you think it a coincidence that the very environment of man fell under the curse along with man in the beginning? Biological defects, poisons and toxins and the light have come about as a result, and these ravage our very DNA leading to the host of physiological conditions we have today. Just keep in mind that the sum of sin's effects are what we're seeing at work today.

Howard Pepper

Posted: June 24, 2008 12:05 PM

There are some excellent points in this article that DO need our attention and action, even if leading politicians choose to ignore the issue of managing crime better in our society. Just imprisoning more and more lawbreakers or for longer periods is obviously not adequate. Moral teaching, especially when combined with strong moral EXAMPLE and modeling/training of effective problem-solving approaches, how to build relationships with positive, high-functioning friends, etc. does a lot. But an additional powerful contributor to crime, which MUST be better understood and addressed, is the physiological aspect. This is especially poignant in relation to the "ADHD/autism spectrum." From raising such a son (not in trouble with the law), my counseling practice, and the emerging research, it seems clear that biological factors, with some likely genetic component, are largely at play in both the causes and the effective management of these increasingly common disorders. Let's dig deeper!

Jim	Posted: June 24, 2008 11:56 AM


This is all well and good, but the author ignores the fact that 85% of all crime is drug related. Add that to the poverty connection and we have to realize that there is more than sin at work here. Perhaps one of the sins is complacency on the part of the "good" people who would rather blame than address the root causes of poverty, drug abuse and racism.

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