| Dear Daniel, Last time I opened the Bible, Jesus said to turn the other cheek, not to shoot first and ask questions later. But in 24 states—including Florida, where Trayvon Martin's killer is still walking the streets—the law says you can shoot and kill anyone you "reasonably believe" is threatening you.1 Those laws are on the books because of the tireless efforts of a secretive coalition of right-wing lobbyists and state legislators, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which adopted "Kill at Will" as model legislation to promote across the country.2 A key member of the ALEC task force pushing "Kill At Will" is one of the nation's most prominent evangelical organizations: Prison Fellowship, whose stated purpose is to transform lives and reconcile families affected by the criminal-justice system.3 Christians shouldn't have anything to do with promoting laws that invite self-appointed vigilantes like George Zimmerman to use deadly force. After the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, it's time for Prison Fellowship to immediately quit the American Legislative Exchange Council and disavow "Kill at Will." Prison Fellowship serves alongside the NRA, the nation's largest private-prison corporation, and the state legislator who sponsored Arizona's notorious anti-immigration law, on ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task force. In addition to "Kill at Will," the task force has crafted and aggressively promoted "model bills" that:
No Christian organization, let alone one that purports to rehabilitate inmates and reform the criminal-justice system, should be lending its support to a coalition with an agenda that victimizes the most vulnerable people in our society. Prison Fellowship needs to hear immediately from outraged people of faith demanding that they drop out of ALEC: http://salsa. Thanks! -- Michael, Kristin, Nick, and the rest of the Faithful America team Sources: 1. "The 24 States That Have Sweeping Self-Defense Laws Just Like Florida's," ProPublica, March 22, 2012 http://www.propublica.org/ 2. "ALEC Has Pushed the NRA's 'Stand Your Ground' Law Across the Nation," Media Matters for America, March 21, 2012 http://mediamatters.org/blog/ 3. "ALEC Exposed: Public Safety and Elections Task Force," Center for Media and Democracy, accessed March 28, 2012 http://www.sourcewatch.org/ Webpage for "ALEC Corrections and Reentry Working Group," a subset of the "Public Safety and Elections Task Force," American Legislative Exchange Council, accessed March 28, 2012 http://www.alec.org/task- "Pat Nolan Promotes Prison Reform at Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council," Prison Fellowship, accessed March 28, 2012 http://www.prisonfellowship. 4. "Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law," National Public Radio, October 28, 2010 http://www.npr.org/2010/10/28/ 5. "The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor," The Nation, August 1, 2011 http://www.thenation.com/ 6. "ALEC Exposed: Rigging Elections," The Nation, July 12, 2011 http://www.thenation.com/ 7. "ALEC Ratified NRA-Conceived Law That May Protect Trayvon Martin's Killer," PR Watch, Center for Media and Democracy, March 21, 2012 http://www.prwatch.org/news/ | |
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