Religion, Crime And Punishment Flashcards
Is it ever right to cause suffering (Christianity)
“Eye for an eye”
“Whoever sheds mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed”
“Do not overcome evil with evil, but instead overcome evil with good”
When women caught committing adultery, Jesus tells people about to punish her “ the one without sin cast the first stone” then tells her to “go and sin no more” suggests he believes in reformation
Is it ever right to cause suffering (Buddhist)
- main aim to bring end to suffering
- believe in metta and karuna
- believe in reformation, story of Angulimala- he killed many people and took finger from each victim and hung round his neck in necklace, when met Buddha Buddha encouraged him to live better life so he renounced violence and became dower of Buddha
Different types of crime
- crime against person
- crime against poverty
- crimes against state
Christian arguments as to why crime is wrong
All human life sacred and made in image of god
Hurting vulnerable person like hurting god “whatever you do for the least of my brother you are doing for me”
“Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good”
“Do not kill” “Do not steal”
Buddhism arguments as to why crime is wrong
“I abstain from taking life” “I abstain from taking what is not freely given”
Crime rooted in 3 poisons, unskillful leads to bad kamma
Eightfold path insists on right action
Causes of crime
- upbringing
- poverty
- greed
- hate
- addiction
- mental illness
- protest
Christianity and causes of crime
- Christians believe that since the fall mankind has ‘original sin’ so all inclined to be greedy and selfish
- means we shouldn’t judge others but that we should recognise that we also commit ‘Sins’
Buddhism and causes of crime
- dependent arising , if someone causing trouble this is some way related to all of us, we could become victims, but we might also be an indirect cause of their poor decision
- suffering rooted in 3 poisons lead to crime
Christian attitudes towards deterrence and retribution
- some Christians might argue more important to deter criminals from commuting a crime because this may result in more sacred innocent human lives being saved
- might also argue that OT says “an eye for an eye” so retribution is acceptable reason for punishment
Christian attitudes towards forgiveness and reformation
- reformation important as reflects idea that all human life is sacred and made in image of god
- we are all guilty “let the one without sin cast the first stone”
- Christianity preaches forgiveness “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us”
Corporal punishment
- involves physically hurting the offender, no longer practiced in UK
- says in book of proverbs “spare the rod and spoil the child”
- “you have hurt me, so now I am going to hurt you” simply revenge goes against reformation
- “eye for an eye”
- “ turn the other cheek”
Fundamentalist Christians and capital punishment
- “whoever sheds human blood, shall their blood be shed”
- “eye for an eye”
- ‘made in image of god’
- death penalty acts as deterrent
Liberal Christians and capital punishment
- believe in forgiveness
- we can be ‘born again’ with the help of the Holy Spirit
- “the one without sin cast the first stone”
Buddhism and punishment
- unskillful actions rooted in 3 poisons
- kamma says offender will bring punishment upon himself
- story of Anigulimala
- should feel karuna for both victim and offender
- compassion’s hand in hand with wisdom, offender might need to be locked up as danger to society
