or at least on their way.

This press release says the books should be reviewed and returned by January of 2008.
(Here is the post where I first mentioned religious books being removed from prison chapel libraries.)

I did the count I promised in that post– of the books that are still accessible (i.e., not boxed under the house): 627

I’m actually certain this number isn’t accurate, since I counted in 8 catigories in 11 different areas (shelves and piles) in my house, so there was too much room for confusion and flubbing.

Approximate percentages:

25% ———– Children’s picture and board books
25% ———– Non-fiction/ thinking/ reference
16% ———– Novels (all ages)
10% ———– Bibles, studies and “religious” books
10% ——— Folktales (individual picture books and collections)
6% ———— Music and How-to books
5% ———- Entertainment (plays, Calvin and Hobbes, etc.)
3% ———— Poetry

Amazing, really, how many books I own. Interesting, too, that most of those I choose to keep accessible are the ones I’ve already read.

I suppose there’s two main reasons for owning books (anyone want to suggest more?):

1. To have something new to read when you want it.
2. To be able to refer to something you’ve already read.

I’ve decided all the books I buy at the used-book stores must come from the first type of owner. That type of reading/ownership is utterly foreign to me. I almost never let something leave if I think I might want to refer to it again.

Any of us who love books and recognize the power they have to work on the human soul (for good or ill) should be in prayer about this.

To summarize, beginning in an effort to minimize the potential of Islam finding a violence-incubator in the U.S prison system, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has ordered all religious books be removed from the prison library if they are not on the approved list of 150 titles (each religion gets their own 150, I understand).

150 books may seem like plenty to people who don’t read (never mind what got excluded from that list) , but as a reader (and one who gathers most new growth and ideas from reading) I will stand up and say 150 is limiting– especially when, face it, not everyone can read every book.

I include myself in this. There are books I’ve been so glad came from the library, because they just *didn’t* fit.

Just as a point of comparison, I’m going to count the books on my shelves and see how many I have. Two points about this count:

1. I just put three or four *boxes* of books under the house last month, so those that are left are:
   a) less than the full amount I currently own, and
   b) more likely to be of the “proper fit” category, since they were left out.
2. The reason for putting all these books away for the present is that the majority of my time is being spent on maintaining a house and children.

Ya’ll can comment and complain if you want to, but no matter what their duties are, I don’t imagine prisoners to be as busy as a mother of three. Leaving out other issues that go along with (perceived) inactivity, these people have a serious need for good books.

If you click on the link above it will take you to the original talk addressing this issue, and here is a link to Justice Fellowship’s Legislative Action Center to learn what you can do to help preserve prisoners’ religious freedom.

Some will argue the whole point of prison is for freedom to be limited, with which I’d largely have to agree. However, on some level, I think all of us wish the prison somehow improved the fallen citizens it eventually disgorges back into society.

For those of us too busy in this season of life to visit those in prison, I hope we will at least remember to support those who are laboring in that field. One way is to pray their tools (among them, the variety of books available) won’t be stolen as they try to build the house.

Knowing that it is only God who can change a man (or woman)’s heart, we should be excited at how open prisoners are to the gospel, and perhaps use this struggle as a reminder to be more purposeful toward them in our prayers.