The Devil You Know: The Surprising Link between Conservative Christianity and Crime
Language: English
Pages: 330
ISBN: 1633881504
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In this trenchant examination of Christianity’s dark side, a criminologist argues persuasively that high rates of violent crime in the United States can be correlated with Christian conservative attitudes, especially in regard to social mores and politics. Of particular concern is “Christian nationalism.” Supporters of this movement argue that America was founded as a Christian nation and they work to install their fundamentalist brand of Christianity as the dominant factor in American political and social life. Far from being a fanatic outlier sect, this group is shown to have significant cultural influence, especially in the American South. Not coincidentally, the author suggests, the South also has the highest homicide rates.
Noting the violent biblical passages often cited by religious conservatives, their sense of righteousness, their dogmatic mindset that tolerates no dissent, and their support for harshly punitive measures toward “sinners,” Peterson Sparks shows that their worldview is the ideal seedbed for violence. Not only does this mindset make violent reactions in interpersonal conflicts more likely, the author says, but it exacerbates the problems of the criminal justice system by advocating policies that create high incarceration rates. The author also devotes particular attention to the victimization of women, children, and LGBT people, which follows from this rigid belief system.
While not resorting to a blanket condemnation of Christianity or religion as a whole, Peterson Sparks issues a wake-up call regarding conservative Christianity’s toxic mixture of fundamentalism, authoritarian politics, patriotism, and retributory justice.
death through religion, and (3) the promulgation of laws, policies, and programs to address crime that stem from this belief system. We will address each of these criminogenic factors in turn. When I first came to this project, I did so with a belief common to many people: that the Christian religion is good and loving, at its root, and that the negative, vitriolic beliefs of many Christians represent a misinterpretation or departure from the true intent and meaning of Christianity. I held this
well, giving us the adage that whosoever lives by the sword shall die by it, but that message competes with a great number of explicit exhortations to commit violence.30 Finally, there is the matter of forgiveness, which seems like a concept completely at odds with committing violent acts at first blush, but which plays a part in this influence nonetheless. Christians are forgiven for their sins when they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Their sins are washed away, and they are
Revolution exist in countries with far lower rates of lethal violence. The history of world civilizations is fraught with countries emerging from oppression at the hands of other countries. Australia got its start as a penal colony, and still we kill more people. To say that our violent beginnings are unique is simply incorrect, and, as such, our history does little to explain our violent nature. Obviously, this is a very quick and dirty overview of some of the explanations for America's
http://www.pewforum.org/Income-Distribution-Within-US-Religious-Groups.aspx (accessed April 6, 2014). 43. See also John E. Farley, Majority-Minority Relations (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010) for an overview of factors related to prejudice. 44. For more on social class and prejudices, see Bernard F. Whitley and Mary E. Kite, The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination (South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning, 2010); Matthew Weeks and Michael B. Lupfer, “Complicating Race:
University of Chicago Press, 1990. Bishop, Bill. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded Americans is Tearing Us Apart. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. Bivins, Jason C. Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Black, Donald. “Crime as Social Control.” American Sociological Review 48 (1983): 34–45. Black, Helen K. “Poverty and Prayer: Spiritual Narratives of Elderly African-American Women.” Review of