Title: Evangelizing for Evil In Our Prisons
Author: CHUCK COLSON
Publication: NY Post
Date: June 24, 2002
URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1024865156408880520-search,00.html?collection=wsjie/30day&vql-string=%28islam%29%3Cin%3E%28article%2Dbody%29

When news broke that Abdullah al Muhajir, better known as Jose Padilla, the man accused of planning to build a "dirty bomb," was a graduate of America's prison system, I wasn't surprised. I've seen hundreds of potential Abdullahs up close. During 26 years walking the cell blocks of America's prisons, I've encountered a growing Muslim presence. Islam , which offers brotherhood and solidarity, especially for people of color, is for the most part a law-abiding religion. But not always.

Some years ago I spoke at an open meeting at the Jackson, Mich., penitentiary. Over 300 Christians filled the seats on one side of a cavernous auditorium; an equal number of Muslims took seats on the opposite side. The tension was palpable. Extra guards were posted at the rear doors. They were right to worry. Every time I mentioned Jesus in my speech, Muslim inmates cranked up their portable radios full blast. Soon there was shaking of fists and taunts hurled back and forth. As angry men moved to the center aisle, I pleaded with the Christians to sit quietly and ignore the hecklers. But only by the grace of God was I able to keep order. Several times, I feared they would lose it -- and we'd have a full-scale riot on our hands.

Now, there is nothing unusual about confrontations in prison -- gang wars regularly occur. What this illustrates, however, is something different -- the aggressive nature of Islam behind bars, where one out of six inmates is an adherent. Islam , certainly the radical variety, feeds on resentment and anger all too prevalent in our prisons. Two million people occupy America's prisons and jails today -- two-thirds of whom are nonwhite. Many feel oppressed by the white power structure and sentencing disparities, which too often fall most harshly on minorities.

Alienated, disenfranchised people are prime targets for radical Islamists who preach a religion of violence, of overcoming oppression by jihad. Yes, most Muslims interpret jihad as an inner struggle. But the radical fundamentalists -- some of whom are invading our prisons -- mean it literally. Those who take the Koran seriously are taught to hate the Christian and the Jew; lands taken from Islam must be recaptured. And to the Islamist, dying in a jihad is the only way one can be assured of Allah's forgiveness and eternal salvation.

This understanding of the Koran, mixed with inmate resentment, is a lethal combination -- and Islam's evangelists for evil know it. Al Qaeda training manuals specifically identify America's prisoners as candidates for conversion because they may be "disenchanted with their country's policies." Terrorism experts fear these angry young recruits will become the next wave of terrorists. As U.S. citizens, they will combine a desire for "payback" with an ability to blend easily into American culture.

The two most dangerous terrorists apprehended this year, remember, were both prison converts. Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, was converted to Islam by a radical imam in a British prison. And "dirty bomber" Padilla was exposed to Islam during his stints in American prisons.

It's no accident that Islam's influence is growing behind bars. The National Islamic Prison Foundation and a Muslim prison outreach program were organized specifically to convert American inmates to Islam . According to published reports, Saudi money has been funneled to the American Muslim Foundation, which supports the prison programs.

Muslims themselves recognize the danger. When I did a radio broadcast about the dangers of radical Islam in the prisons, I heard from moderate Muslims urging me to keep publicizing the issue.

What's the answer? In the short term, prison officials have ample legal authority to deny radical imams access to inmates. No civilized nation would allow the preachers of violence access to places packed with angry, alienated men. Inmates are easy targets. International terrorism analyst Peter Brown told the Washington Times that up to 2,000 American recruits "have shown up in the ranks of al Qaeda in the past decade."

But the long-term answer lies in what ministries like Prison Fellowship do: bringing the Gospel into the prisons and telling inmates about the love of Christ. I've gone into 600 prisons around the world; when the gospel is preached, and men embrace Christ, they eschew violence. The prisons we run prove it. In Texas, Kansas, Iowa, and now Minnesota our prisons are filled with once-dangerous men who now love Jesus and live new lives.

America has always been a place where victims of oppression came "yearning to breathe free," as the Statue of Liberty reminds us. But if we do not stop them, radical Islamists will use prisons, packed with angry and resentful men, to put an evil twist on this message: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses -- yearning to get even.

Mr. Colson is founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Updated June 24, 2002