An examination of social sin and capital punishment through Sister Helen Prejean's.
"And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." (Bible: Genesis 9:5-6).
When one ponders the image of God, and what is God's connection with worldly happenings, we must first bring ourselves into the shoes of the one being asked. In the book Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean writes about her experiences as a spiritual councilor to death row inmate Elmo Patrick Sonnier in Angola Prison in Louisiana. Patrick Sonnier was tired, convicted and sentenced to death in the electric chair for his involvement in the rape and murder of two of teenagers. Sister Prejean becomes involved with Sonnier after corresponding with him, and offers to meet to give him spiritual guidance. Prejean supports Sonnier through his trials of guilt and repentance, as she guides him to take responsibility for his sins and accept his fate. Though Prejean does not believe in capital punishment, she still believes in imprisonment and punishment to fulfill society's hunger for justice. This hunger is enlarged through the essence of the social fabric of that community of people; namely the people of Louisiana and those involved in the Louisiana criminal justice system. Though the killing of another human being is clearly a sin according to the commandments of God, "Thou shalt not kill"(Bible: Exodus 20:15), there are many who have twisted the Christian ideology to use the other side of God's words, citing God's words for retribution "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, strip for stripe" (Bible: exodus21: 23-25) to be the law of the land, and thus justification for capital punishment.
Russell also gives his opinion that God may be real, but that there are other gods too, such as Greek gods. ... He is saying that gods are not real they are just in our minds and when our minds are gone they are too. ... To know that it is true we have to search and find out, because the preacher is human too. ... He searches for the truth, and we, as Christians must do the same thing. ...
As Zeus clarifies his opinion of hero Odysseus to his daughter Athena, who is seeking his help in protecting the suffering him from the ceaseless danger he has encountered, he proclaims, " 'Great Odysseus who excels all men in wisdom, excels in offerings too he gives the immortal gods who rule the vaulting skies?'... Zeus' assessment of Odysseus emphasizes his respect for the lost King of Ithaca, which, in this case, is influenced primarily by his abundant offerings to the gods and goddesses of Olympus. ... Furthermore, gods make it evident of their consent, sometimes rewar...
Once he was assured with that, he would do some deep inquiries into how the person felt and end up turning the person's entire opinion into something else. ... For example, Socrates methodically denies Euthyphro's idea that what makes right actions right is that the gods love or approval of them. First, there is the obvious problem that, since questions of right and wrong often generate neverending disputes, the gods are likely to disagree among themselves about moral matters no more or less often than we do, making some actions both right and wrong. More importantly, Socrates thin...
"Is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or it is pious because it is being loved by the gods?". ... Piety is care of the gods). ... What can we give to gods that they need? ... Socrates urges Euthyphro to continue the search for the meaning of piety. ... Socrates believes in a standard of morality that is something more than human opinion. ...
The desire to be close to the gods, to be one with them, was a universal feeling. ... Through the rituals and sacred worship, the people kept the gods "alive." Just as the people needed the gods, the gods needed the people. ... Knowledge was the ultimate goal of philosophy, and it was separated into two types, "epistemae," true knowledge, and "doxa," opinions or beliefs. ... In the search for truths and answers, philosophy thrived. ...
"Should you ever see the beautiful itself, it will be your opinion that it is not to be compared to gold and garments and the beautiful boys and youths at whose sight you are now thunderstruck... Aristophanes account of Eros comes in the form of a myth, where he expresses how people search for their "other half." ... The androgynous were powerful, so they made threatening attacks on the Gods. The Gods were scared, but did not want to destroy them, so Zeus split the androgynous pair apart. ... According to Aristophanes, one does not search for wisdom, beauty or truth, just their other h...
We are depending on their opinion to decide if we did wrong or not. ... He doesn't believe in all the God's ideas and is defending himself to justify his opinion. ... That shows that one should believe in gods, just because the city does so. Socrates always searches for more knowledge about the city and its laws. ... My personal opinion is that it is wrong to do be an object of the rules someone told you when you were born. ...
"The Gods of the earth and sea, Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree But their search was all in vain: There grows one in the Human Brain" The final stanza bears the "catch of the poem". To Blake, there can be a slightly different understanding of the gods who are really illusions of man so that the puzzle that is life can be complete. ... The tree in question is, in my opinion, the tree of good and evil, which symbolizes "mortality and nature"*. In the last verse, the "human brain" is really the generator of how existence is perceived with its "gods and devils" and "...
When Haemon was trying to convince his father King Creon to not punish and execute Antigone for her rebellion, he states that the whole of Thebes has the same opinion that she "deserves a crown of gold" for her actions because she was respecting the ritualistic burial rites of the gods. ... Also his decision went against the major opinion of the international community who were against the war from the start. ... He continually challenges gods and their strengths with his own. ... But he arrogantly went against the major opinion of the community and went on with his war as if his opinion was t...
They considered the Indians a savage race with barbaric rituals to please the gods. ... Finally, in the Disney animation of "Pocahontas"; an English ship full of treasure hunters arrive at the New World in search of gold. ... They also show how one action or preconceived idea can lead to other actions of opinions. ... Meanwhile keeping an unbiased opinion of the primary source's point of view. ...
