Bad Atonement Theology And Broken Justice Systems

Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, is a study of the malfeasance and inhumanity that blights America’s criminal justice system and an attempt to shed light on prison conditions, mass incarceration, racial bias and excessive punishment (Stevenson 293). After Jimmy Dill’s death, a man wrongfully sentenced to death and executed, Stevenson articulates his feelings, and finds comfort even after his perceived failure: ‘I understood that even as we are caught in a web of hurt and brokenness, we’re also in a web of healing and mercy.’ (Stevenson 294) Just as hurt and healing are a concatenation, mercy, and brokenness are linked together.

The society that was made by racial bias has made a “string of work camps and prisons strung across a vast country housing millions of people drawn mainly from classes and racial groups that are seen as politically and economically problematic.” (3) Loury’s explanation of how prisons work today is a fact that no should feel good about themselves. However, Loury makes people feel more shameful and guilty by saying the actions we made are connected to Christ. Loury explains that when someone has committed a crime, the normal reaction of someone will be pointing fingers, “You see that fellow over there committing some terrible sins?” (6) Loury uses Christ as an example to show the reader that no matter who he or she is, everyone is the same and has committed some sort of sin, “Well, if you have ever lusted, or allowed jealousy, or envy or hatred to enter your own heart, then you are to be equally condemned!” (6)

“Not only did slaves believe that they would be chosen by the Lord, there is evidence that many of them felt their owners would be denied salvation” (34). Levine claimed that the slaves uses their beliefs and religion as a “means of escape and opposition” because it gave them a “serious alternative to the societal system created by southern slaveholders” (54.)

Slavery, the “Peculiar Institution” of the South, caused suffering among an innumerable number of human beings. Some people could argue that the life of a domestic animal would be better than being a slave; at least animals are incapable of feeling emotions. Suffering countless atrocities, including sexual assault, beatings, and murders, these slaves endured much more than we would think is humanly possible today. Yet, white southern “Christians” committed these atrocities, believing their behaviors were neither wrong nor immoral. Looking back at these atrocities, those who call themselves Christians are

Lisa Barnes Lampman's book "God And The Victim: Theological Reflections On Evil, Victimization, Justice, And Forgiveness" discusses the concept of crime and how it can be seen from a spiritual perspective. The writer is concerned about having people adopt a theological attitude in trying to understand crime and what triggers it. Victimization is also a principal concept in the book, as the writer relates to it in regard to crime and apparently wants to emphasize the fact that it is common for some people to consider themselves vulnerable to crime. The writer basically wants her readers to acknowledge that crime can have damaging consequences for society as a whole.

Bryan Stevenson’s 2014 book, Just Mercy, is about “getting closer to mass incarceration and extreme punishment in America” (Stevenson, 2014, p.14). Stevenson focuses mainly on blatant racism and classism in the poor south by detailing a case he worked on during the 1980s. Throughout the book, Stevenson also analyzes the discrimination poor women, children, and mentally ill people face that often lands them on death row. The 2015 article “U.S. Education: Still Separate and

For almost eight decades, enslaved African-Americans living in the Antebellum South, achieved their freedom in various ways—one being religion—before the demise of the institution of slavery. It was “freedom, rather than slavery, [that] proved the greatest force for conversion among African Americans in the South” (94). Starting with the Great Awakening and continuing long after the abolition of slavery, after decades of debate, scholars conceptualized the importance of religion for enslaved African-Americans as a means of escaping the brutalities of daily life. Overall, Christianity helped enslaved African American resist the degradation

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. refutes the condemnatory claims made by eight white Alabama clergymen. By appealing to ethos, logos, and pathos King argues that he is not an outsider and that the experience of African Americans in segregated Birmingham warrants well-intentioned demonstration and civil disobedience. In doing so, he calls attention to the clergymen’s hypocrisy and firmly garners their respect and understanding.

Unlike DiAngelo’s White Privilege essay, a group of religious authorities under the umbrella of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. wrote a response letter to Dr. Reverend King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” First quoting a portion of Dr. King’s letter then responding to the quote, the group takes a Biblical stance on the racial issues that continue to preside in modern day American culture. Beginning the essay, the group differentiates between merely acting upon the symptoms of racism. “... (a) superficial kind of social analysis…” and discovering and fixing the root of the racial. By investigating the racial issues at hand and striving towards Dr. King’s dream of a community of equal opportunities for all races, then the conversation of racial inequality can begin. Realizing that fostering a multiracial community centered around radical love that forsakes “safety of our social order,” we, as the Christian body need to develop a society that eliminates the social prejudices currently penetrate into every aspect of

Martin Luther King Jr. compassionately responds to eight criticizing clergymen in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Refuting the opposition posed by the catholic church, King retorts in a non-confrontational manner, raising many topics to defend his nonviolent protest. King utilizes his time in jail to accurately represent the African American perspective, and the struggles that motivate them.

Christianity was new to most slaves who had been abducted from their native country and taken to the Americas. Some were hesitant to abandon their old traditions for the Christ their white captors taught of, but after several generations of slavery, most black slaves had succumbed to relentless preaching. However, the Christianity that took hold within the slave community was often interpreted differently, conveying different messages to pockets of slave population. The use of Christianity in slavery was a double edged sword, creating not only a tool for control, but a weapon of discontent in slave communities. Examining the works of Richard Allen and the stories of Nat Turner, create a narrative of how Christianity was applied differently to slaves.

James H. Cone’s God of the Oppressed is his examination of the origin, development, and significance of black theology as it relates to how he and the black Christian community view God. For Cone, in an America seemingly dominated by white theology and the white Christian community’s views of God, it is imperative to acknowledge and attentively listen to the voices of the theologies of other races and what God means to them, especially that of the black community. Cone asserts without hesitation that the God that is referred to in the Bible and black religion is a Deliver of those held captive by the bondage of oppression. Cone not only asserts this viewpoint of God as the Freer of oppressed people, but he validates this assertion through the use of Scripture, the black experience, history, and tradition. Overall, the central theme of this book is that a plethora of factors continually shape and construct a people’s theology and how that theology is significant in regards to how they see God, the world, and themselves.

Once during a passionate sermon at church, my pastor had made a vivid statement about incorporation of sin in law. Pastor Smith stated, “the world has developed loopholes to maintain its dignity by incorporating sin into the law, and as long as we are operating under the law, our actions are perceived as being justified”(Smith). Reflecting on his theory has brought me to the realization that the United Stated has established a profitable industry, governed by the creation and the manipulation of laws. Although, it’s ideal to believe that the standards of laws were truly orchestrated with the foundation of equality, justice, and freedom. It is imperative to be informed of historical events that has transpired through the history of the black race each operating under the ordinance of law. Beginning with the development of slavery, to the alarming rate of black men behind bars. I am compelled to present the clause of injustice that has labeled the United States as the home of 25% of the world 's prisoners ().

The death penalty has been present, in one way or another, for virtually as long as human civilization has existed. The reasons why are apparent; it is intrinsically logical to human beings that a person who takes the life of another should also be killed. This philosophy is exemplified in the famous Biblical passage, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." However, in light of recent research into ethics, criminology and the justice system, the time has come for us to re-examine our ageless paradigm of revenge.

In Stephen Bright’s article, “The Death Penalty as the Answer to Crime: Costly, Counterproductive, and Corrupting” Bright asserts that capital punishment does not work because it is racially biased, the quality of the lawyers and attorneys supplied by the state to poor defendants is unfair, and that the law system currently in place does not accomplish its true goals. Bright defends his claim with logos and ethos by examining the opinions of judges and district attorneys, and by describing experience within the fields of human rights and law himself in order to persuade the reader to take up more cases for those on death row. Given the language used in this article Bright is writing to an audience with intermediate to professional experience within the field of law, and a willingness to adopt a new idea on the constitutionality behind the death penalty.