What is the significance,
then, of the penitentiary?
It is clearly a Sacred
Secularism story, par excellence. Religious individuals
gathered to creatively imagine for
the fledging democratic republic a secular, State institution.
More, they engaged in the political process (of
petitioning the legislature) acting as citizens, although clearly
they saw themselves as Christian citizens.
Since the Divinity had created man with Reason, it was reasonable
to assume that institutions could be
created, using that Reason, which reflected the
Divine's intent and make real His presence (the inmate repented to and
was forgiven by God).
Just as theirs was an optimistic, faith-based belief
that individuals could gather and for the first time ever in recorded
history claim "We, the people" as the
fundamental authority for organizing and effecting social order,
so too was the penitentiary an optimistic, faith-based
belief that God would act through democratic institutions to achieve
His goals.
In a broader sense, PPS members
looked upon the State penitentiary as Roman Catholics
do their sacraments. That is, it is an institutional
ritual that inevitably and without
fail, regardless of the spiritual state of the priests or penitent, makes God present to
the penitent individual.
In this light, the penitentiary was
the
first American Civil Religion ritual,
the
first Sacred Secular (Christian
Secularism) ritual.
Continue—PPS
