On September 26th, the Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life hosted a centered conversation titled “God Behind Bars,” regarding religion in the prison system. Professors Stephanie Morse from the criminal justice department and Marc Rugani from the theology department lead the discussion with their research on the issue.
Professor Morse discussed her research of incarcerated persons and found that many of them found God while in prison. During her time in Arizona and researching the Arizona prison system she realized that many of the people she interviewed lead the conversation into stories of their religious conversions.
Professor Rugani then spoke about his role as a Christian social ethicist and how religion serves as a source of redemption for many inmates. He found from a Pew Research poll that only 11% of incarcerated people across the United States identified as non-religious individuals, while 28% of people in the United States consider themselves non-religious. This indicates that these individuals are more likely to seek the morality and redemption of religion while in prison.
After a discussion of their research the professors opened the room to small group conversations where many students engaged in questioning the reasoning behind this religious conversion. The small groups were intended to create thoughts, questions, or opinions and share them with the group as a whole.
When the groups came back together one student asked the professors whether the religious conversion came from individual readings from the Bible or other various religious scriptures or religious programming and social events. The results of this were mixed many individuals found that reading scripture led to their beliefs while others found that the community and chaplain programming lead to their acceptance.
Another student asked whether religious beliefs changed from one denomination or religious group while in prison. Professor Rugani using the same Pew Research poll revealed that religious groups actually shifted in prison. Protestant and Islamic groups increased populations at the highest rate as did pagan/nature-based faith. Judaism and Catholicism also increased but at a slightly lower percentage. This likely is due to the higher number of religious chaplains who are Protestant and Muslim, while Catholic chaplains and Jewish rabi are less prevalent in prisons.
The event yielded an incredible turnout with the New Hampshire Political Library being converted into standing room only with many students having to sit on the floor. This was the first in the “Centered Conversation Series” for the Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life.