Ep. 26: Justice That Restores (Heather Rice-Minus and Prison Fellowship)

Christian Civics Podcast

Our guest this week is Heather Rice-Minus. She's vice president of government affairs and church mobilization for Prison Fellowship. Prison Fellowship is in a rare spot where some of the work they do is responding in a simple, direct way to simple direct commands in scripture—to not forget those in prison and to visit prisoners. But another part of what they do is taking big, broad principles that we're supposed to dedicate ourselves to and finding specific ways to apply those themes in a complicated, multifaceted system. Prison Fellowship is a great example of a collection of Christians humbly trying to figure out the best way to be a practical, visible example of the kingdom that is to come in the middle of the here and now. They don't shy away from engaging with a very hard, very complicated form of brokenness, and they do it while leaving room for people who don't share their approach to still exercise their best wisdom. We recorded this via Skype, so the connection is not great, but the questions Heather raises—"What is the purpose of the justice system?" "How do we as Christians take our thoughts about crime and punishment captive to the gospel?"—are worth wrestling with even over a poor-sounding connection. Visit christiancivics.org for links to the research, resources and events Heather mentions during our interview.