OMGWTF

 Offenders In Ala. Town Can Choose Jail Or Church

I cannot begin to describe how offensive this is, on so many levels.  Since I'm having trouble maintaining rationality, and constructing a viable paragraph, I think I'll simply list the things wrong with this.

1) This promotes a false equivalency between jail and church.  Attending church has now become a punishment!  Don't speed, or you'll have to go to church!  Don't jaywalk, or you'll have to go to church!  I mean, why would you take an institution with so many positive aspects to it, and turn it into something negative?

2) The false idea that attending church will turn you into a better person.  I seem to recall some times in my childhood in which I had a hard time not falling asleep.  Even when I was awake, I was usually thinking about something else.  (Until my adolescence, that is.  I was pretty into the whole church thing then.)  My point is, just because you're attending church doesn't mean that you're going to take anything positive away from it.

3) How many non-violent offenses does this town have?  And how many of those are preached against in church?  I bet there aren't *that* many.

4) Of course, the obvious one... separation of church and state anyone?  Are they going to limit which churches can be attended?  If a religion isn't registered with the feds for tax purposes, will it still be allowed?  If so, who is going to stop someone from asking their best friend to be their pastor?  If not, that really comes off as the establishment of state sponsored religions. 


I mean... why is this being allowed, again?