'Prayer Phone Booth and quot; art installation by artist Dylan Mortimer allows passerby to take a moment and say a prayer in public. (Photo: Twitter/Justin Boulet) A town in Kansas has installed "prayer phone booths" throughout its city to encourage residents to take time to kneel and pray throughout their day. The booths come equipped with a lowering kneel bar and instructions so passerby may use the device properly, and one local media outlet has noted that the booths' presence in inner city areas is proportional to the decrease in crime rate.
Citizens of Kansas City reportedly lobbied city council for the "prayer booths" to be placed around the city on public park space as "public service monuments of arts and counseling to the people of Kansas City." Since their installment a couple months ago, the prayer booths have reportedly been used 100,000 times per week. According to Topeka News, some of the booths were installed in inner city areas with high crime rates several years ago, and city data confirms that crime has reportedly reduced in those areas in a proportionate manner to the number of people using the prayer booths.
"It is therapeutic, that is how we lobbied them through city council," local pastor Reverend Miles Collier told Topeka News in a recent interview. "We said these prayer booths are not just for Christians, but for any person to take a break to close their eyes, ask out loud for what they need in life and just take a break from it all. It is like having a free counseling session."
The booths are advertised to passerby as being nondenominational. There is a clear "warning" sign on the booth that states that although they may be used for religious purposes, the city is not forcing or condoning any religious participation. The booth, a combination of aluminum, plastic and vinyl meant to represent a cross between a public phone booth and a church pew, includes directions that read: "At the completion of your prayer please return the kneeler to its upright position."
The booths were originally created by artist Dylan Mortimer, and nbsp;based in Kansas City, Missouri, several years ago, and since the piece's creation it has been installed in public park areas in cities that include Chicago, New York City, Las Vegas, Dubuque, Iowa, and other places. The artist told Las Vegas City Life and nbsp;back in November that he has received mixed reactions for his work, which was recently on display at the Trifecta Gallery in Las Vegas.
"Reactions [to 'Prayer Booth'] have been all over the board," Mortimer told the local news outlet. "Usually people like it, a lot people using it jokingly, some use it sincerely [ and hellip;] and then a lot of people hate it, and vandalize it; I've had death threats."
A description on the City of Dubuque, Iowa's website from when the artwork was being displayed there in 2011 says the purpose of "Prayer Booth" is not necessarily to make a direct connection to any one faith, but rather to pose the question of prayer in the public domain. "There is no literal affiliation with any particular faith per se, rather the piece aims to question the idea of prayer in the public domain. The piece fuses humor, sarcasm and sincerity, and aims to highlight and spark further discussion about the contemporary expression of religion within the public community."
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