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aren't many folks who make it their business to be concerned with spirituality
at the grass roots of society. Among the few that do are the church pastors.
Yet these local pastors don't get out very much. Not that I've seen. I would
like to suggest that Garden Zone Management would provide the perfect opportunity
for church leaders to establish a neighborhood presence; to truly lead the
community, including people who don't necessarily attend their church. The
pastors could lead not only from the pulpit, but in a more down-to-earth
fashion, as Garden Zone Managers.
A couple of years ago I made a point of attending service at every nearby church, about 15 in all. I was looking to find some common ground among them; to see if there existed a spiritual foundation underlying the various denominations. The point of the exercise was to demonstrate that truths about the nature of life, death and existence are not confined to the knowledge or beliefs of any one denomination, or any one particular religion. Rather, you could get to these truths no matter what church you attended. The importance of understanding such truths can not be overstated. Clearly questions like, what is life, what am I, who or what is God, what is this reality that we experience – such questions must occupy the position of highest priority in every person's mind. The table below was created from the notes I accumulated during my visits to the various churches. The same table also serves as Figure 5.2 in Managing the Spiritual Neighborhood, where there is further discussion about why church leaders should become community leaders, and why the issue of the separation of church and state should not present a real obstacle to this. Some of these quotes are old, and some of the clergymen quoted are no longer preaching in this area – I'm afraid I'm overdue for another round of visits and note taking. You'll also note the Christian bias that is expressed. Apart from the Unitarian-Universalist congregation (Davies Memorial), the only churches there are to select from in the immediate vicinity of Camp Springs are Christian. (If you're wondering about my own religious practice, please see About the Author.)
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Click for Letter to Local Pastors ....  Click for 2002 Crime Report .... |
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| It may seem odd to broach the subject of crime in the church section of this web site, but when you consider the principles that underlie Garden Zone Management, it becomes apparent that there is a logical connection between crime and church. The basic idea is straightforward. Clearly one of the main reasons for participating in religion is to become a better person, and that of course implies that one does not go out stealing and robbing after worship service. In the area that I call "greater Camp Springs" (see map), which includes parts of North Clinton, Temple Hills, Allentown, Ft. Washington and Morningside, there are something like 50 churches. The aggregate sum of the congregations attending these churches numbers in the tens of thousands. But despite the presence of all these presumably holy people – folks whom one would expect to have a positive influence on the general population – in spite of the high concentration of churches and clergy, Camp Springs has a serious crime problem. Our modern, affluent, middle-class suburb is experiencing a level of crime that one would normally associate with a much different environment ... the projects, the inner-city, third-world countries. Seven robberies per month During the 25 week period between December 21, 2000 and June 14, 2001, there were 35 robberies in Camp Springs. This comes to roughly 6 robberies per month. During that same period there were 6 reported assaults, 5 sexual assaults, 80 break-ins, 51 of which were at residences, and a total of 347 thefts. In the year that followed, June 2001 to June 2002, we averaged 7 robberies and 63 thefts per month. This is for a residential area with a population of roughly 15,000. As high as these figures appear, they have actually come down some in since the peak in the mid-90s. And if you compare our crime rate with the that of neighboring areas north of us, extending to the D.C. line, our numbers even appear low. Police District 4, which covers Fort Washington, Oxon Hill, Marlow Heights, Hillcrest Heights and parts of Suitland, handles ten times as much crime as District 5. Young men lost to gun violence In my own neighborhood of Westchester, I personally know four families who have lost a son to gun violence. One young man was shot to death in a road-rage incident several years ago. Another, Rod Jones, who grew up next door to me, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in D.C. He was 25 years old. A third, a freshman at Morgan State, was shot by a 16-year-old who tried to rob him at a bus stop in Baltimore, and a fourth was killed in a drug related incident in Waldorf. Again, these are all kids from my neighborhood – our own children. Not only do we have victims of shootings here, but the Camp Springs area has also produced the shooters. Kids from Friendly, Crossland, Surrattsville, Suitland and Oxon Hill High Schools; boys – and girls by the way – who grew up right here among us; who lived in comfortable, attractive, middle-class homes on streets like Glade Drive, Coolridge Road, Edgemere Drive, Larwin Drive, Middlefield Terrace, and Buck Creek Road. Streets and neighborhoods that epitomize the American dream. Children from these quiet, tree-lined enclaves, immature, unsupervised, and grossly ignorant of life, have actually committed murder against their fellow community members. Prince George's police: most violent in the country The striking contrast between the affluent environment and the level of crime here ought to make folks sit up and take notice. A responsible, responsive community would show great concern over these numbers. But the fact is, they don't. And that's where the real problem is. Crime is not the problem. Crime is a symptom. The problem is in people's attitudes, in their mind-set.. It's virtually impossible to get anyone's attention on this matter. It's not my fault. I didn't do it. Go after the criminal, not me. This is a job for the police. Let them worry about it. This is how most of the population thinks, and the thinking of the government follows exactly the same pattern. According to a recent study by the Washington Post (published from 1 to 4 July, 2001) ( Click here to view entire article), during the past 10 years the Prince George's police compiled the worst record in the country with respect to violence against citizens; they had more deadly shootings per cop than any other large jurisdiction. From the Post: At the same time that the county police were accumulating this record of violence, our level of crime remained ludicrously high. This is a clear indictment of the standard government approach to the crime problem; the approach which calls for more police, more force, tougher laws, etc.. Not only were the Prince George's police more deadly than anyone else, they took greater pains to gloss over their actions, denying fault or responsibility in virtually every case. But what's really troubling is that it had to be the media people who uncovered this gross defect in our community, rather than we ourselves. It gives further proof that we, the citizens of Prince George's, the people who pay the salaries of the police and the government bureaucrats – we the community, it is we who are at fault. None of us is keeping watch. We've all been asleep at the wheel. Our lack of interest and lack of involvement gives a tacit stamp of approval to the civil servants who are supposed to be working for us. No sense of civic duty Granted crime is a difficult thing to deal with. It's too distressing, too negative for a lot of folks. But people are not only ignoring crime, they also turn away from issues that are far less scary. Schools, the environment, homelessness ... even something as simple as litter. For example, the commercial signs tacked onto utility poles: cell phones, check your hearing, karate lessons, work-at-home, lose weight ... plus those big, gaudy disco-nightclub posters ... lately we've been seeing more and more of these things. Not just one or two, but dozens, at all the intersections, and along all the major streets. They make the area look trashy, and they stay up for months, until they literally rot on the pole. But again, the problem is not the signs ... no ... the problem is that no one does anything about it. Not one person among the tens of thousands living here lifts a finger to take them down. They either can't or won't contribute even this minuscule portion of their attention to their surroundings or their community. People have no sense of civic duty, no consciousness of belonging to a larger social body. To me that translates to a lack of courtesy, a lack of basic, neighborly conduct. Spiritual development is the key In this respect Camp Springs and Prince George's are no different from pretty much every other community, and every other jurisdiction in modern America. Our culture and consciousness reflect and are reflected in the way communities function at the grass roots, and judging by the rampant materialism and marked decline of courtesy and decency, it's seems clear that our culture is flawed in a fundamental way. But when you say the culture is flawed, what you're really saying is that the people are flawed. Thus to solve the problem of crime, each individual member of the community needs to look closely at himself or herself and take steps to correct his own personal, individual character. Ah ... but such self-examination is a spiritual undertaking. Growth of character, growth of caring, growth of compassion are phenomena that take place internally. And that's what spirituality means: to get in touch with one's internal self, and develop that inner, divine side of you. If there were any hope at all of finding someone in the community who shows true concern about quality of life issues and the problem of crime, the first people to consider would be the church pastors. With this in mind, I sent a letter to 60 area churches, soliciting their involvement, and attaching to it the 25-week crime summary for Camp Springs taken from the Post. Both the letter and the crime report can be read on-line by clicking below. (The Post report on the Prince George's police can be accessed through public library on-line databases – Infotrac in P.G., Proquest in Fairfax, etc. – which also maintain archived weekly crime reports.)
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Click to view
letter to Pastors |
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Allentown
Baptist Church
The response to my letter was negligible. Two churches responded - one
by letter First Church of Christ Scientist on Old Branch Ave. in Clinton,
one by phone New Chapel Baptist pastor Rev. William Hill
(Maryland Delegate Kerry Hill's father). Of these, only one - Rev. Hill
- indicated that he was ready to take action; to actually try to tackle
these problems. Of the clergymen quoted above, most are gone. Some retired,
some left the area - pastoring other churches in other parts of the country
- and some have passed away. Rev. Jack VandenHengel, who was the director
of Community Ministries of Prince George's County for a good while, remarked
that church pastors "come and go like the wind" around here.
It seems that just as it is with the lay public, clergymen also fail to
exhibit much commitment to the community they serve. At least, that is,
not to this particular community of Camp Springs.