
By. James Clark, Huffington Post
Last week, the Economist published an article illustrating a widespread failure of American Christianity. Entitled "Rough Justice" with the subheading "America locks up too many people, some for acts that should not even be criminal," the article detailed the practice of mass incarceration and revealed some startling facts: 1 in 100 American adults is living behind bars. When we narrow the field to young black men, it's 1 in 9. Put another way, we have incarcerated 1 percent of our neighbors.
Our war on drugs is one of the leading contributors. Those who insist that the United States is a "Christian nation" would be hard-pressed to find evidence for it in our nation's drug policy, which condemns millions of our neighbors to be warehoused behind bars for nonviolent offenses. The Economist article brings to light a systemic denial of Christian love and compassion, particularly toward those struggling with addiction.
But on the same day the Economist published "Rough Justice," something else happened that few would immediately associate with the biblical command to love our neighbor: the California Affiliates of the ACLU endorsed Proposition 19, the ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Christian communities looking for a smarter, more compassionate, and more successful way forward in fighting drug addiction would do well to consider the merits of marijuana decriminalization.
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