I have an exciting announcement: I’m starting a podcast!
I’m feeling more and more called into criminal justice reform (in addition to bridge-building), and this podcast is a reflection of that. I hope to host police trainers, prison chaplains, policy experts, and more to talk about how the system can be improved. I also hope to host defenders of the current system to talk about what the system does well (that reformers might be missing). I’m aiming to develop, and to share, something like a holistic understanding of the criminal justice system.
I’ll also be talking about God a fair amount, because my faith is at the very center of my prison ministry and the reforms that I hope to help accomplish in the system. As you can tell, this podcast lives on a separate platform from Heal the West. That said, where it feels appropriate, I might send occasional episodes to my main Heal the West audience if I think y’all will appreciate it.
The podcast is called Humanizing Inmates, because that gets to the heart of the reforms that I feel most called to fight for in our current system. I want prison to be a place where broken people go to find their humanity and to heal. Too often it seems like the current system dehumanizes inmates, which I think is both counterproductive (shame seems likely to me to be linked to increased recidivism) and also deeply un-Christian.
Here’s a link, if you want to sign up to get new episodes delivered right to your inbox: https://www.healthewest.org/s/humanizing-prisoners
This first episode was a real joy to record. I spoke to my friend Richard, who goes by the handle Fallen Ape-Theist. Richard works in counterterrorism, and we became friends by talking about political partisanship and how it can lead to dehumanization.
He’s also a prominent atheist apologist. He spends a lot of time debating Christian apologists, which is what he’s actually up to this weekend.
Our conversation ran the gamut. We talked about whether or not murderers who repent and find Christ should ever feel joy. We talked about what drives some people away from the church. We talked about the messiness of the human experience, and how none of us have all the answers.
I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation half as much as I enjoyed having it!
