I attended Sr. Helen Prejean’s lecture, but failed to post a response shortly after the event.  In light of the recent abolishment of New Jersey’s death penalty, I thought a reflection on her lecture would be in order.

A moving speaker, Prejean captured the horrors of the United States’ penal system, specifically the death penalty.  After describing the execution of Patrick Sonnier and the heartbreak of the victim’s families, it becomes easy to see that a serious problem exists with the current corrections system in the United States.  The abolishing of the death penalty in New Jersey, though, shows the affect that religious groups can have on social problems.  I agree with much of what Prejean said concerning the problems with the system, but I disagree with the foundations of her argument.  I think that religious groups, specifically Christians, need to become more involved in issues of social justice.  But we need to answer why people, specifically Christians in this case, should become more involved.

This is just a minor point, but is Prejean saying that the death penalty should be done away with altogether, or is it just that the current system needs to be revised?  I think that she would say that the death penalty should be done away with in all correction systems.  Her line of argument, though, focused mostly on the inhumanity of the system and less on the inhumanity of using death as punishment.  Would a new system satisfy Prejean, or will she only be satisfied when the death penalty is completely abolished?  She cited the love and grace of Christ often.  I wonder what she thinks of Revelation 20 where our peaceful and loving Christ consigns the wicked to Hell at the Great White Thrown Judgment.  Too often, recently, I have had conversations that make the God of the Old Testament the God of smiting and the God of the New Testament the God of peace and love.  Let’s not forget that, according to the Christian worldview, Jesus is the God of both the Old and New Testaments and that he is the one that sends sinners to Hell in the Book of Revelation.

One of her main points was that the current system is so horrible and that no human should be treated that way irrespective of their crime.  She then spoke of the value of humans.  In this sense, and correct me if I am wrong, but she seemed to step out of the realm of Catholicism and into Enlightenment philosophy by holding humans as valuable in and of themselves.  In other words, humans have value simply because they are humans.  But where do humans derive their value then?  I think that Prejean is working toward a noble goal within a Christian framework, but that her foundation is weak and also not Christian.

As a Christian, I can say that humans have value because they are created in the image of God [Genesis 1:26-28].  We don’t need to go into the specifics of what that means, but suffice it to say that humans do not derive their value from simply being humans.  Instead, their value comes from God.  To compound this further for Christians, Christians have an obligation to serve others.  I don’t mean an obligation in the sense that they will be dragging their feet and reluctant to engage in social justice, but that their desire to be involved in social justice should be a natural part of their conversion.  Christians forgive because they have been forgiven much.  They love because God loved them first.  They serve because God, in Christ, served them.  If you are interested, check out these verses: [Luke 7:36-50] [1 John 4:19] [Mark 10:45] [Romans 12:1-2].  Based on the idea that we are created in the image of God, then, I am afraid that Prejean is approaching this issue from a position that is not Christian.

I will be upfront and say that I believe that only the Christian Worldview can explain why humans should care for, serve, love, etc. other humans.  Perhaps we can have a Dialogue on this topic next semester.  Here are three questions that I have in mind.  How does your religion or worldview approach social justice?  Where do humans derive their value in your religion or worldview?  Is social justice an obligation for salvation, or is it a natural outgrowth of one’s conversion in you religion or worldview?  Can all religions or worldviews explain why humans should serve/love other humans?  Is the Christian worldview somehow distinct, or not?

Matthew Warren

[Fall 2007]