Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Values - Crime: Public Prayer Booths Work

City officials and police departments all over the nation have been trying a number of ways to reduce crime.   Many think that stripping law abiding citizens of their legal right to defend themselves by banning guns.  One of the favorite methods of fighting crime among liberals is to throw millions of dollars into social programs but it rarely if ever works.
City officials in Kansas City, Kansas just may have found a very cost efficient method of lowering the city's crime rate.  Several years ago, the city began installing phone prayer booths in some of the inner city areas that had high crime rates.  The booths are equipped with a lowering kneeling bar and instructions for anyone passing by.  Not long after the prayer booths were installed, crime rates in those areas began to decrease.
Seeing the results, a number of city residents lobbied the Kansas City council to install more prayer booths throughout the rest of the city to help lower crime overall.  The council complied and has placed more prayer booths in various locations through Kansas City and they seem to be working.  Currently, the city's prayer booths are being used by 100,000 a week and the city's crime rate is going down.
Before anyone hollers separation of church and state, let it be known that the booths are being placed on public park grounds under 'public service monument of arts and counseling to the people of Kansas City.'  Dylan Mortimer, a local artist designed the prayer booths.  After their initial installation several years ago, Mortimer has been commissioned to create similar booths for Chicago, New York City, Las Vegas, Dubuque, Iowa and other cities.
Secondly, they are not just for Christians, but for anyone from any faith to use.  Notices at each prayer booth tells the people that they are nondenominational.  The sign also says that the city is not endorsing religion and that they can be used for other purposes as well.  Lastly, they ask that when someone is done that they return the kneeling bar back to its upright position.
The prayer booths in Dubuque have signs that read:
"There is no literal affiliation with any particular faith per se, rather the piece aims to question the idea of prayer in the public domain. The piece fuses humor, sarcasm and sincerity, and aims to highlight and spark further discussion about the contemporary expression of religion within the public community."
Rev. Miles Collier told a state news agency:
"It is therapeutic, that is how we lobbied them through city council.  We said these prayer booths are not just for Christians, but for any person to take a break to close their eyes, ask out loud for what they need in life and just take a break from it all. It is like having a free counseling session."
I've been contending for years that there is a direct correlation between the removal of God, Jesus, the Bible and Christianity from society and the increase in crime and moral decay of our nation.  Nothing can exist in a vacuum and when you remove the only true source of morals and values, they are quickly replaced with immorality and a lack of values and decency.  The end result can only be an increase in hedonistic pleasures that leads to more crime against others and the eventual decay of society.
This has been repeated throughout history, but nations never learn and eventually yield to the godless liberals that are hell bent on destroying another nation.  But in the case of Kansas City, they are giving the people a chance to return to some of their spiritual values by erecting the prayer booths in the city.  The usage of 100,000 times per week demonstrated just how much people need and want to pray.  It also demonstrates that giving people back even a hint of faith, can have a very positive effect on such things as crime in the area.
Now if they really want to reduce crime, all they need to do is put God, Jesus, the Bible and Christian values back into our schools and government.  Then and only then will America stand a prayer of a chance of returning to some of its former morals, values and glory.

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