While studying rehabilitation programs as a 20-year-old student at Reed College, Leslie Zukor learnt that there were a number of programs to tackle drug addiction, sexual and physical abuse as well as technical training among prisoners. What stunned her however was the fact that all these programs were offered by faith-based organizations.

In 2005, Zukor launched the Freethought Books Project in order to collect books related to humanism, atheism and science so she could send them to interested prisoners. Since then, she has distributed 2,300 books, newspapers and magazines to hundreds of prisoners in the United States.

“Not all prisoners are religious, and I wanted them to know that to turn your life around and be a good and productive member of society does not require a belief in God,” she said.

In 2013, Zukor handed over her project to the Center for Inquiry, a humanitarian organization based in New York and since then, hundreds of authors and publishers have sent in cartons of books to be distributed to prison inmates. With the Freethought Books Project becoming more popular, conservative believers and Christians have criticized it for “battling the Bible” and “turning inmates against God.” Zukor and members of Center for Inquiry have however, denied such allegations.

“Christianity has a mandate to convert people, but Freethought does not have any such mandate. We just want everyone to have the freedom to express doubts and ask questions, and that is what these books represent,” said Sarah Kaiser, one of the project’s new coordinators.

While Zukor was operating on her own from the Pacific Northwest, Joel Justiss, a software developer in San Antonio, was aiding her to identify readers through a secular newsletter sent to prisoners. He sent every interested prisoner a packet of material that contained a page introducing the Freethought Books Project and forwarded his or her requests to Zukor.

After living as a devout Christian for 40 years, Justtis eventually turned to atheism and he believes it is very important for everyone to read non-religious material. According to him, the inmates who responded to him often complained about being treated differently because they were not believers.

“Lots of times they complain, (that) we are excluded from the special benefits that religious prisoners have and we take a lot of flak from other prisoners as well as guards for being unconventional,” he said.

The Freethought Books Project plans to expand and introduce a pen pal program whereby prisoners can interact with non-believers through letters. Even though conservatives have decried this idea, prisoners have expressed much gratitude for the same.

“I thank you again for your infusion of sense into an environment that is, at best, utterly nonsensical. It is heartening to see an alternative point of view represented in such a place and the books you’ve sent will be read and re-read many times over,” wrote one inmate.

Photo Credits: by Johannes Jansson