Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 38:3 (Sep 1995)
Article: Crime, The Christian And Capital Justice
Author: J. Daryl Charles

JETS 38:3 (September 1995) p. 429

Crime, The Christian And Capital Justice

J. Daryl Charles*

Much has been written in recent times about the “culture wars” that are said to be raging. 1 A common feature that unites virtually all of the pressing social issues of our day is a sobering loss of moral reasoning and deterioration of moral discourse. 2 Behavior that was once deemed deviant by society has been redefined, so that acts that were previously thought to be morally repugnant are recast as being “normal” or at least tolerable. Daniel Patrick Moynihan has described this project of moral leveling as “defining deviancy down.” 3

As a corollary to this, fundamentally moral issues are increasingly seen as matters of health or one’s environment. Thus the social pathologies afflicting American culture have been successfully divorced from universal moral norms. It is here that the Christian community—and the Christian community alone—must make its presence felt. Clashing in western culture are two opposing worldviews. The one is propelled by a view of human nature that refuses to acknowledge moral accountability. The other is undergirded by a Biblical anthropology that reminds our culture that we in fact do live in a moral universe. It stresses, nonnegotiably, that there are

* Daryl Charles is scholar-in-residence for the Wilberforce Forum and lives at 10232 Wetherburn Road, Ellicott City, MD 21402–1682.

JETS 38:3 (September 1995) p. 430

consequences for our actions. These consequences, moreover, affect not only the individual but all of society as well.

Nowhere is this clash of life views more apparent than with the issue of crime. And nowhere is American society’s failure to give account of itself more tragic than in the sphere of violent crime. Sloppy, sentimental thinking not only exists in surrounding secular culture but also can be found in some Christian circles. Apart from people like William Bennett, who has consistently and courageously addressed cultural trends, where are thoughtful and articulate Christians who can contribute to national debate on any significant moral issues?

Two authors offer the following commentary on the potency of religion in America:

Religion has little impact on the moral life of the majority of Americans. Most Americans aren’t sure of their church’s position on the great moral issues of the day—from school busing, capital punishment, book-banning, affirmative action, birth control, homosexuality, teaching creationism in the public schools, pornography, and premarital sex to ...