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Dead Man Walking Essay When a criminal is constantly nagged and abused, condemned and ostracized by society, he turns into a viler and bitter individual. The inner core of every human being is essentially divine, even that of the worst villain. It just needs to be revealed to him to help him align himself with his true personality. This process is inner revelation. . It is only the blazing fire of Divine Knowledge that can illumine him from within. This instrumentality of Divine Knowledge can make him a worthy individual and citizen. This being the truth, one finds it difficult to agree with Gregory Baum that religion is often ambiguous in its effect on society. He further asserts that religion can be used to justify unjust social circumstances. Such possibility occurs when the tenets of religion are misunderstood and implemented wrongly. Misapplications will produce unfavorable results. Moreover, the interpretations of moral and ethical values need to be molded as per the demands of the time, and the prevailing social conditions. Poverty is the one big reason due to which an individual takes to the path of crime. The rich have a role to play here. â€Å"†¦the message to the rich is that they must be intelligent enough from time to time to help the poor, because this is the way by which they will become richer still. †(4) Sister Helen Prejean, author Dead Man Walking takes the right stand on social issues, presently capital punishment, and thus serves the true cause of Catholic Church. What is it to undergo the death penalty†¦. The best part of the death is the surprise element of it. But in case of legal death penalty, the suffering begins from day one the arrest of the individual, and when the realization dawns on him that he is liable for death penalty. He hopes against hopes that he will survive somehow. The suffering gradually increases, till that stunning moment when he is finally sentenced to death. Then he â€Å"would wait and weep and wear out. †(8) The condemned one begins to die at every moment thereafter. Patrick Sonnier, who had killed two teenagers, was one such individual. Now there are five parties concerned in the final scene of the drama of execution. The condemned prisoner, his family, the State, the Prison Administration and the men whose job is to execute the prisoner to snuff out his life! In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, months before his death in the electric chair of Louisianas Angola State Prison. The ‘battle’ between the spiritual principles and the ‘State Killing’ of a man with the God-given soul commenced. Christianity stands for love and pardon. The Catholic nun condemns capital punishment on moral grounds. An imperfect society doesn’t own the right to award death penalty. Many serious crimes are committed in a state of momentary anger. Has death penalty put an end to murders and rapes? The remedy to arrest the trend of heinous crimes lays elsewhere. Helen Prejean’s book is topical and it has international importance. Another startling and well-substantiated revelation in the book is poor African-Americans in the â€Å"Death Belt’ are most likely to be executed. If their crimes are against whites, the chances of death penalty are even more. Sociologists-where are you? What do you think of this serious anomaly? â€Å"Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. †(1) You have no right to extinguish the life which you have not kindled. This book saw the light of the day under strange circumstances. Prejean writes, â€Å"When Chava Colon from the Prison Coalition asks me one January day in 1982 to become a pen pal to a death-row inmate, I say, Sure. The invitation seems to fit with my work in St. Thomas, a New Orleans housing project of poor black residents. Not death row exactly, but close. Death is rampant here-from guns, disease, and addiction. Medical care scarcely exists. †(Prejean, 1994, p. 3) The third and the fourth sentences of the book in chapter 1, give firm indications about the fertile ground for the crimes. Prejean is a Catholic Nun. She is asked to be associated with an about-to-be-hanged criminal. How Divine Forces will tackle the Satan? Her first mental reaction was, â€Å"I wonder what I can say to this man. What will he have to say to me? †(Prejean 1994, p. 4)Now the question is how the Catholic Church and social reformation and rehabilitation of the poor and the downtrodden are compatible. The practical problem is, â€Å"The mandate to practice social justice is unsettling because taking on the struggles of the poor invariably means challenging the wealthy and those who serve their interests. † Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable-thats what Dorothy Day, a Catholic social activist said is the heart of the Christian gospel. 1 (Prejean 1994, p. 5) Rabindranath Tagore writes, â€Å"thou keepest company with the companionless among the poorest, the lowliest, and the lost. † (2) â€Å"These are poor societies which have too little, but where is the rich society that says, â€Å"Halt! We have enough! †(5) But when religion develops an agenda to tackle the social problems, several practical situations come to the fore. Social issues are interlinked to politics and economics. Nuns are not social workers in the pure sense, they are religious preachers. They are there to tell you about your personal relationship with God, kindness to others, inner peace and the promised heaven, at the end of this life. Politics is not a respected ‘profession’ in any country of the world. Religious preachers are ill-equipped to deal with the segments of administration like, bureaucracy, police, politics and judiciary. The continuous interaction is difficult, for every church-going individual may have one problem or the other Sister Marie Augusta Neal, S. N. D. deN, set her thinking straight and changed her perception, as for remaining on the side of poor. She quoted the religious authority for her stand. She was s sociologist. She argued how fighting for the glaring inequalities in the world and the religious preaching needs to work together. Apolitical does not mean that you have to side with oppression. For every argument of Prejean, she had well-founded counter arguments, based on religious revelations of Lord Jesus. The Gospels record that Jesus preached good news to the poor, she said, and an essential part of that good news was that they were to be poor no longer. â€Å"Which meant they were not to meekly accept their poverty and suffering as Gods will, but, instead, struggle to obtain the necessities of life which were rightfully theirs. †(Prejean, 1994 p. 6. â€Å"Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. (3) Conclusion: Reading more religious texts is not the solution to the vexed problems of the day, including crimes, â€Å"More education can help us only if it produces more wisdom. †(6). Religious tenets are the revelations of the Perfect Masters (Divine Personalities or Realized Souls), so there is no question of ambiguities in them. Ambiguities are in our understanding. Gregory Baum is one such individual. Mind-level thinking fails to understand the revelations of the souls which have transcended the mind-barrier. In that level it is perfection all around. Initially, Prejean had problems of understanding the religious tenets. As would be seen from the passages analyzed above, she was able to cross that confusing barrier of the mind, and then her religion began to inspire her to secure social and spiritual justice and she realized that fight for social justice is the divine ordained duty! It is the highest spiritual demand! Adhering to religious principles doesn’t mean that you need to suffer in poverty, â€Å"where he pattern of living and working are not only profoundly unsatisfactory but also in a process of accelerating decay. †(7) This decay leads to serious crimes. References: Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account Of The Death Penalty In The United States: by Helen Prejean (Author) Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books edition (May 31, 1994) ISBN-10: 0679751319 ISBN-13: 978-0679751311 Tagore, Rabindranath . Book: Gitanjali; Macmillan Co. Ltd, London-1962. 1) P. 1, (2) P. 8, (3) P. 28, (8) p. 84 Schumancher, E. F: Book: Small is Beautiful: Publisher: Radha Krishna, Daryaganj, New Delhi (India) (4) P. 19, (5) P. 21 (6) p. 73 (7) p. 159