The Americans United Sarasota-Manatee Chapter has spoken out against the lack of secular (non-religious) treatment options for inmates at the Sarasota County jail.
We need more people and organizations to stand up and demand separation of church and state. To give inmates and citizens options in the Drug Courts and have probation officers step up to the plate and stop mandating Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. This practice continues in Daytona Beach,Palm Coast the state of Florida not to mention the entire nation.Let’s put in end to this unconstitutional practive now!
http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2011/04/religious-rehab-at-florida.html
I very much appreciate that this website is not afraid to take the unpopular stand of facing the facts when it comes to the all-important issue of addiction recovery. If we truly care about these vulnerable addicts who are at a critical and fragile point in their lives we need to put “principle before personality,” as they say and be willing to admit when dysfunction is allowed to escalate unchecked and unsupervised. When there is such a high failure rate for real success with the current choice’s of NA or AA how can we in good conscience not explore and offer other options that could save lives? When we have a traumatic emotional or psychological issue to work through we typically see a therapist if we can afford one. It is obvious that the reason that most people self medicate is that there are underlying emotional and psychological disorders which are at the root of the problem! I am so thankful that there are wonderful, free, professional therapeutic based recovery programs available. These professional-based organizations have devoted so much time and energy to provide help at no cost to those in need providing proven successful therapeutic methods for counseling and addressing the underlying issues. They have impressive success rates for full recovery by using professional methods of recognizing impulse triggers and coping with urges. We should be willing to explore and embrace any and all such options! This is about the ultimate goal of successful recovery and there is no place in this important crucial issue for resistance to offer options based on “personality before principal.” Check out the links on the right hand side of the homepage under 12 step alternatives. They are good options, some with online meetings that are currently accepted for drug court mandates in our local area!
When is the court system going to change? Maybe this is a start. Addicted to
Christ? In Jail?
Daytona Beach is close to Miami-Dade and the problems of the courts sending
criminals to AA and NA meetings because there are no alternatives is becoming
very evident in Miami and the Little River Club. Do not let Daytona Beach
become like Miami. Recently it was reported at a town hall meeting that sex
offenders were moving into the area from the Julia Tuttle Causeway closer to
the Little River Club. The Little River Club had a large presence at the
meeting and said nothing about the sex offenders. They came to defend the
parking lot and complaints against the members harassing citizens because of
that parking lot. The question is, did the sex offenders move there because of
the AA meetings at the Little River Club? Why didn’t the members of the Little
River Club make any suggestions to help the community about sex offenders in
the area? They were only there to fight for the illegal parking lot that was
being used to attract the people in AA that were disrupting the neighborhood.
http://stinkin-thinkin.com/2011/05/12/sympathy-and-powerlessness/
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2010/05/fl-mr-mayor-can-you-please-tell-t
hem-to.html
THis is great. Some of us should contact them. In support.