When the chaplain at in Las Vegas’s Clark County Detention Center gave his celebrity prisoner, O.J. Simpson, some form of “The Purpose Driven Life” (news reports didn’t specify if it was the Daily Inspiration, “The PDL Journal,” “The PDL for Commuters” or the original text), we assume he was attempting to succor one of God’s own, just as Jesus taught. Perhaps inadvertently, the good padre also strengthened the connection between Rick Warren’s insanely bestselling set of books and law enforcement.
The connection was first made when Ashley Smith read part of “The PDL” to fugitive Brian Nichols and convinced him to give himself up after shooting a court officer and holding Smith hostage. If “The PDL” can bring in desperadoes, one figures, it’s the right book for jailhouse reading.

The message of the book is that we’re on Earth for a reason, usually to serve God in some way. As one believer told CNN recently, “It just says we need to be secure and confident because God made us the way we are.” This isn’t always what a person, perhaps least O.J.–who might suffer from a bit too much confidence–needs to hear. Says our PDL believer, “Even though everybody else may … think bad things about us, we don’t need to worry about them.” This doesn’t sound like something O.J. should be perusing.
Hopefully, O.J. got sprung before he got a chance to read it.