Good and Evil michaelmas

Natural evil

Events that have nothing to do with human beings and are naturally occurring in the world-tsunamis

Moral evil

The result of human action something that is caused by human acting in a way that is considered immoral-murder

What makes an action wrong?

• causes harm or suffering

• sacred texts tell us something is wrong

• goes against moral code

• we are told it is wrong

Good

That which is considered morally right, beneficial and to our advantage-donating money to charity

Evil

That which is considered extremely immoral, wicked and wrong-murder

Morality

Principles and standards determining which actions are right or wrong-morals found in the bible

Who is Bonhoeffer?

A Christian who attempted to assassinate Hitler during WW2. He challenged religious teachings

Absolute morality

When an action is either always right or wrong-murder

Relative morality

When the morality of an action depends on the circumstances-stealing

Crime

An act which breaks legal code and is punishable by the law

Punishment

A penalty given to someone for a crime or wrong they have committed

Sin

A deliberate immoral action which breaks a religious law

Reasons why people commit crimes

• Greed

• free will

• poverty

• mental illness

• hate

• revenge

• opposition to unjust laws

Free-will

The human ability to make choices voluntarily an independently (without being coerced by others)

Genesis story teaches us that God gave us free will-Deuteronomy

Original sin

St. Augustine argued

1. Adam and Eve sinned against God

2. Sin stained the souls of Adam and Eve, meaning they couldn’t help but be evil

3. All humans are descendants of Adam and Eve

4. All humans souls are stained with evil

5. All humans are evil

Justice

Fairness; where everyone has equal provisions and opportunity

Retribution

To take revenge or get even

‘An eye for an eye’/capital punishment

Protection

This aims to protect people-society or other criminals

Prison sentence to murderers

Reformation

Training the person to make better choices so they can go back into society

Rehab centres or restorative justice

Deterrence

To put people off doing the crime again

Hefty prison sentence or large fine

Jewish beliefs about punishment

• Tzedek means justice and jews believe it must be served

• Humans have free-will, so if someone is evil they should be punished

• Believe in retribution-’eye for an eye’

• Adam and Eve were punished by God

Jewish beliefs about forgiveness

• It is an important Jewish virtue and hate should be replaced with love

• ‘do not hate your brother in your heart’

• Punishment should be performed to lead to forgiveness not hate

• repentance is important

Christian beliefs about punishment

• Conservative Christians believe in old testament values-actions have consequences

• Punishment is justified if crimes are committed- ‘let justice role on like a river’

• Liberal Christians believe that punishment should be centred around the teaching of agape love

Christian beliefs about forgiveness

• It is necessary because all humans are sinners so we all need forgiveness

• ‘He who has not sinned may throw the first stone’

• Forgive unlimited times

• Jesus forgave those who crucified him

• ‘forgive them father for they do not know what they have done

Eva Korr

Jewish woman who forgave the Nazis who experimented on her and her twin during the holocaust.

‘I had the power to forgive/no one could take it away’

Gee Walker

Christian who forgave the people who murdered her son

‘We expect to be forgiven/That’s why I chose to forgive

Prison Reformer

Someone who lobbies or pressurises for change

John Howard

• Told parliament that prisoners should receive basic sanitation and care

• Clean running water

• separate cells for men and women

• doctors for prisoners

• abolished fees for jailers

Elizabeth Fry

• Established prison schools for children with their mothers

• Helped women stay connected to their faith

• Women could provide for themselves when they left prison-sew/knit

• promoted rehabilitation and reformation

• Made sure prisoners weren’t isolated from society

Prison chaplains

a chaplain is a religious representative attached to a secular institution

What do they do?

• educational classes

• help inmates re-enter society

• one to one care

• give advice and support

Death penalty

Someone is put to death as punishment for a crime they have committed

strict interpretation of scripture

Is the word of God, god is omniscient and therefore the bible cannot be wrong

Conservative/orthodox

most likely to believe in death penalty

Relaxed interpretation of scripture

Bible was written by humans, humans can be wrong so the bible can be wrong

liberal/reform

against death penalty