A Heart for Community

It's natural to care deeply about community. Real love for family extends to neighbors—and overflows for the whole of society. This occasional column tells of how a spiritual perspective has been helping Sentinel readers help others and make a contribution to healing some of the collective challenges facing communities today.

For several years I directed and taught in a college program in a prison. As time went on, I became more and more convinced that the tremendous effort that this sort of unconventional program demands is well worth it. Overall, participants, both students/inmates and teachers, grew and changed for the better in instance after instance. A typical example that comes to mind is that of a young man who was notorious for his violence against other inmates and his general lack of cooperation. After being in the college program, his attitude changed so markedly and his academic progress so impressed prison officials that he received an early parole. After his release, he got a job in the community service field.

One of the most valuable aspects of Christian Science for me has been its teaching of the inviolable worth of each individual as the child of God. This may sound too idealistic for the rough-and-tumble prison environment, but I have found it an immensely practical starting point. A teacher's view of his students is a significant factor in any educational program, and I found Christian Science offered the spiritual resources to cut through stereotypical arguments that some individuals are inferior, that "so-and-so will always be a criminal."

This sort of educational activity—backed by a higher regard for individual worth and potential—is, for me, a way of helping to bring about the dissolution of racial, economic, social, and sexual barriers to a thriving shared community.

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