US Criminal Justice System and Deal with Justice - Essay Example

US Criminal Justice System and Deal with Justice The of the reading source “Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace”, Smith and Burr, reveal the problem why our world abounds in various problems and disguises and why it is erroneously believed that it is the God who is guilty of that. From the theological, and namely Christian point of view, the origin of this problem backs to the beginning of the times, when the first people, Adam and Eve, controlled by the God, did not manage to resist the temptation of the Devil and ate the prohibited fruit.

They were deprived of the supreme goods and were exiled from the paradise and went on mortal life on the Earth. This problem is explained by the fact that the thing causing this punishment was not the God’s being angry with them because they violated His prohibition, but the matter of the human choice – they did their choice consciously, and this was their responsibility. No one made them do so, though the devil influenced them, but it is logical that the person decides upon a certain choice on his or her own.

Many people, particularly nowadays, consider that the world is unfair and the God does not just things when, for example, a child is born with heavy disease or a human being is killed by another human. “The teaching on original sin says that this situation is the result of human choices, not God’s desire.” (Smith, Burr, 2007, 92). It is also necessary to mention that it is not our blame that we are born into the world which has laws, habitual ways of acting and institutions which are not flawless and provide not complete education and development to us, but we are responsible for the change of this state of affairs.

This is possible when we realize that the God has granted us with the power to firstly change ourselves, and then – the surrounding world. (Smith, Burr, 2007, 93). Today there is a situation which is usually called ‘a vicious circle’: many world structures promote injustice, and the institutes that must enforce moral and sound behavior act otherwise fostering sins, and the sins enforce the named institutions. Injustice is also fostered by the human’s today’s enormous desires and appetites which make everyone think about himself or herself, which often in practice means ignoring and neglecting the others.

(Smith, Burr, 2007, 93). This finds reflection in the ancient times, when originally pacifist Christianity turned into a frighteningly cruel and merciless power of conquest and punishment. Though the crusades, inquisition and prosecution of the people thinking otherwise than the Church prescribed were conducted with allegations of the just war or just measures in favor of God, the murders of the humans, often mass ones – civilized Christian colonizers eliminated the entire nations originally lived on the distant lands, can today be referred to as sins as well.

(Smith, Burr, 2007, 102-103). The matter of peace is tackled by Christianity this way: “1) Christians should separate from the world and the state, and therefore not be involved in politics; 2) Christians should not resist evil, hence they should practice nonviolence and pacifism…; and 3) Christians should share their goods, or even should own goods and property in common…” (Smith, Burr, 2007, 105). The authors’ thoughts are related with the US criminal justice system in the following way.

As it is very easy to tell lies in today’s immoral world, there is a relatively high risk of false evidence even when being under trial in the court of law. The Bible is considered to be the script of the undoubted truth and the saint thing, and the law breaker must swear on it to tell nothing except truth to the officers. This makes the violators feel their being responsible not only to their own, but also to the God, and that they should make the right choice. Works Cited Smith, D., Burr, E. Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace. 2007. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 85-113.