Religious Education Assignment Research Report: Investigating Ethical Perspectives on Modern Faith Issues

Part A (40 marks)

In completing the Coursework Booklet Part A (summary of the investigation on the chosen title) the candidate should:

• Identify the title he/she chose from the prescribed list for coursework.
• Indicate the sources of information that he/she used e.g. web based materials, literature, and other sources.
• Set out the main points of information on the steps he/she took and the skills he/she used in investigating the title chosen from the prescribed list for coursework.
• Present a summary of the findings from his/her examination of the title chosen from the prescribed list for coursework and provide supporting evidence for his/her conclusions.

Part B (40 marks)

In completing the Coursework Booklet Part B (personal reflection on the learning, skills and experiences gained through undertaking the chosen title for coursework) the candidate should: 

• State the reason why he/she personally chose the title from the prescribed list for coursework. Explain how the title chosen from the prescribed list for coursework generated personal interest or enthusiasm or the way in which he/she had a particular concern about this topic.
• Identify different perspectives he/she encountered in doing coursework on the title chosen from the prescribed list.
• Identify the questions that arose for him/her through doing coursework on the title chosen from the prescribed list.
• Describe the personal insights he/she gained through doing coursework on the title chosen from the prescribed list.
• Assess what has been the most valuable part of doing coursework on the title chosen from the prescribed list. This implies that the candidate balance different perspectives and shows the skills of judgement and evaluation.

Religius Education Coursework Prescribed Title

Type into the space below the full text of the coursework title you chose from the prescribed list for this examination.

[Type the title of your coursework into this space.]

Word Count

The two parts of your coursework booklet must not exceed a total length of 1,500 words, excluding references and bibliography.

 

After you have completed parts A and B of your coursework enter the total number of words into the space below.

[Type the total number of words into this space.]

Section E: Religion and Gender

Section H: The Bible: Literature and Sacred Text

Content

• Title pg 1
• Getting Started pg 4
• Part A pg 6
  • Steps and skills pg 6
  • Summary of findings pg 10
• Part B pg 13
  • Bibliography pg 16
• Checklist pg 17
• Glossary of terms pg 18
• Marking scheme pg 19
• Coursework booklet pg 19
• Additional information pg 19

Getting started…

First – to choose the title you want to research

…Pick the one that you are most interested in and that you have the best connection to.

Second– research the title and create database

• …start by defining the command words in your chosen title, like profile, exploration or investigation etc, are asking you to do.
• … Be specific, what topics are you expected to research, cover and know.
• … Look at the syllabus’ knowledge; understanding; skills; attitudes for your chosen question.
• … Define key terms from your chosen title… then research the title.
• … Create a database with the sources used to research your chosen title and the information that you have taken from these sources.
• … A database is a record of all the sources and information that you have gathered. It can be recorded on an excel sheet, a word document, a pages document, a note or in an email.
• … so to create one write/copy down each source and the information taken from each source that is relevant to the title. Note the time and date of access to each source.
• … aim to have 15+ sources
• …sources can be books, interviews, documentaries, websites, journals, newspapers etc, etc… see “point to note” for how to find credible sources
• … Once you have a complete grasp of the topic in your title then start writing up

Thirdly – write it up…

start with the findings section in Part A, then the steps and skills section in part A. Once that is complete, tackle Part B.

Part A

Part B

Bibliography

Check list…

When you have finished writing Part A & Part B, you should review the coursework with
the use of these questions and include or adapt any information arising to what you have
already written…this is a check list of sorts…
1. What did you know about the topic at the beginning of this process?
2. Why I choose this topic?
3. How will I show the steps and skills I used in the process of this coursework?
4. What issues arose in my investigation /research?
5. 2 perspectives I came across? From different sources e.g. one a book and the other a
website
6. In my research did I encounter any bias and assumptions by authors or others?
7. Personal reaction to this bias?
8. My personal reactions to or feeling in relation to personal reflection?
9. How did I verify credibility of my sources?
10. Possible implications of this topic for 21st century Ireland?
11. What kind of conclusions can be drawn from your investigation?
12. Why does it matter?
13. How has the experience challenged my views opinions and beliefs?
14. How well informed am I now?
15. What further questions remain unanswered?
16. Did I show originality & personal engagement in the process of researching and writing
this coursework?
GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS FOR USE IN THE
ASSESSMENT OF LEAVING CERTIFICATE
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

• The following is a list of the most commonly used terms and their meaning in the context of student assessment. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list.
• Assess implies the student balancing different perspectives and showing skills of judgement and evaluation.
• Compare implies presenting two perspectives or positions and showing the similarities
  and/or differences.
• Contrast implies presenting two different perspectives or positions and showing the
  differences.
• Describe implies that the student must state in words, or sometimes diagrams, the
  important points of the topic.
• Discuss implies that the student will examine different perspectives or opinions on a topic and then come to their own conclusion/viewpoint.
• Explain implies more than a list of facts/thoughts/theories. The reasons accounting for
  these facts/thoughts/theories must also be provided.
• Investigate implies the student examining a thought or a theory and providing supporting evidence for their conclusions.
• Outline implies the student setting out the main points of information on a topic.
• Profile implies the student tracing the development of a thought, a theory, a person or
  events.
• Reflect implies a statement of the student’s experience in the context in which the question is asked.
• Research implies that the student will find suitable information, sort, record, analyse and
  draw conclusions.
• Trace implies a chronological approach to the development of a thought, theory, event, etc.

Marking Scheme

Check online at examinations.ie; in the examinations archive section of their website..

Coursework booklet Check

online at examinations.ie; in the Practical and projects section of their website.

Additional info… E1&2

RELIGION & GENDER
2.4.1 Present an account of a person or group that has experienced exclusion or oppression in religion because of gender.

“When sleeping women awake, mountains will move.” Chinese proverb
Empowerment may be described as the means to define, direct & decide one’s life.
To empower someone is to give them the tools necessary to claim such responsibility for
themselves.
In regards to gender the phrase “Sisters are doin’ it for themselves” can be used to describe
female empowerment.
The forces that deny such empowerment can be described as exclusive. That which does not
empower excludes. Exclusion means to prevent or restrict entrance. In practice, exclusion
means to bar from participation, consideration or inclusion.
History clearly shows that the women have suffered from exclusion since the dawn of time.
The women’s movement, with the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft, Olympe DeGouges and the
suffragettes, have lead the way for the inclusion of women in society. It has been a long
struggle.
Emerging out of the women’s movement, feminist theology has served as a catalyst for
encouraging new ways of thinking about gender and religion. As women become more
empowered politically and theologically, it was inevitable that religion would come under
scrutiny due it’s view of women. Some would suggest, and with good reason, that religion
views women as second class citizens.
So how has religion acted to exclude but also include women?
When it comes to the experience of women being excluded or oppressed based on gender it
is not very difficult to find examples.
What can be more difficult is to discover what is behind the oppression.

Religion & culture are an awkward mix, one shaping the other, so when we explore what was/is happening to women in religions it is also important to bear in mind what is happening to women in society in general.
For example, sometimes the status of women in a religion is higher than it is in society but
Unfortunately this is rarely the case.
In Ireland, it is barely a generation since women were first able to open a bank account or
get a mortgage in their own name & most women had to give up work once they got
married. Children allowance payments went into the father’s bank account & martial rape
was not recognised by the law
.
Historically, the Women’s rights campaigns of the 1960’s & 70’s & on-going work to allow
full access to society & rights for women in all aspects of their lives have been key to the
progression & elevation of a woman place in Irish society. These include areas like abortion,
the gender wage gap, equal representation in political office and prostitution.
The first country to recognise a women’s right to be elected was the US but women did not
get the right to vote until 1920. It was New Zealand in 1893 that first gave women the right
to vote & it did not occur in Ireland till 1918 (with restrictions). Switzerland only gave
women the right to vote in 1971, and Portugal in 1976.
Throughout the centuries women have borne the brunt of misogyny (hatred of women) and
superstition. The witch hunts of the 15th & 16th Centuries are a good example of this.
Between 1590 & 1760, 40,000 people were killed as result of this. The typical witch was a
middle-aged woman, reclusive, single or widowed & was often a mid-wife or a healer. Those
who were suspected of being a witch were sentenced to death if there was a death in the
family, a natural disaster or the death of livestock. Most women accused of being a witch
were tortured until they confessed & were then executed by drowning, stoning, hanging or
burning at the stake.
What follows is a passage from the time…
“All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman…
It is not good to marry: What is a woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a
necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable
detriment, an evil of nature, painted with fair colours.”!
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Most of the death sentences were passed by civil court & not the Church. However, official
religious sanction for these “witch-hunts” was assumed by the acceptance of a book named
“Malleus Maleficarum” (translated as the Witches’ Hammer). This book was used by civil
court to provide a theological foundation for their decision & though it was criticised by a
number of church leaders it was a guide to witch-hunting for 200 years.

The Ordination of Women to the Priesthood… An example of EXCLUSION

Many Christian denominations ordain women to the priesthood & to ministry; but the RCC
(Roman Catholic Church) does not do so. This stance by the RCC has felt many women
feeling excluded from the life of the church. It is clear from the scripture that women had a
much more prominent/significant part to play in the early Christian communities but during
the 4th & 5th centuries the church gradually extinguished women’s access to positions of
power in the church…
…the Apostolic Church Order (300 CE) – no joint communion allowed.
…Council of Laodicea (352 CE) – women forbidden from the priesthood.
…4th Synod of Carthage (398 CE) – women may not teach men or baptise anyone.
…the 1st Council of Orange (441 CE) – deaconesses (middle mgmt. of church) are not to be
ordained.
…Council of Chalcedon (451 CE) – no woman under 40 to be ordained a deacon.
…the Vincention Code of the 5th Century – ordained or ordaining women went against the
traditions of the church.
During the middle ages groups that continued to ordain women were excommunicated. In
the 13th century Thomas Aquinas said women could not receive holy orders because they
were god-ordained to be subject to men.
It’s interesting to note that this on-going discussion about the ordaining of women meant
that the belief that women should not be ordained was a late development in Christianity &
therefore could be considered a cultural add-on.
Until recently, priestly ministry (within the Christian Churches) was a male only occupation.
In the 19th century this began to change when some Protestant group re-established
deaconesses.
The Methodist Church ordained the first women to full time ministry in 1956 & the Anglican
(church of England/church of Ireland) did so in 1971. The first Anglican bishop was Barbara
Harris in 1989 & in a service in 1994, no fewer than 32 women were ordained. In 1990 the
first Irish woman was ordained….could be considered an example of inclusion…

But this has not been the case in the RCC….& women have continued to be excluded from the priesthood…
– Pope Paul VI said there are fundamental reasons for this in 1976…most of the reasons are
based on church tradition & not the Bible.
– In 1983 the Code of Canon Law stated that only men could receive ordination…
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– this is backed up again in 1992 by the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
– In 1988, the popular pope John Paul II wrote that because Jesus did not call women to be
in the 12 disciples/apostles the RCC could not, as it needed to follow Jesus’ example. Even
though on many other points the RCC goes against what Jesus said & did.
– the same pope repeats his 1988 findings in 1994…”the exclusion of women from the
priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church.”
– 2004 document…”On the Collaboration of Men & Women in the Church & in the world”
again states that the RCC priest is a male only club.
– 2019, Pope Francis has been asked to comment on whether the RCC should allow women
to be ordained but has generally referred back to the writings of John Paul II on the matter.
What might have happen if the RCC had ordained female priests & seen the exclusion of
women from the priesthood as a cultural factor?
Would the church be in the position of decline in the “western” world that they are in
today?
The Christian belief is the men & women together encapsulate the character & essence of
God. It could be concluded that in an institution with only one gender you have only half of
what God wants & only half of what the world needs.
Ultimately, exclusion has hurt the church far more than the RCC wish to admit. It has
dampen & tainted it’s message of Jesus’ love & inclusion beyond repair to many, particular
those living on this island.
This can be seen in the example is the Magdalene Sisters

Digital Resources…

Film The Magdalene Sisters
Film Philomena
Magdalene Laundries: Our World, BBC News Channel 27-09-14…YouTube Clip

2.4.2 Present an account of a person or group that has experienced empowerment or freedom in religion because of gender.

Empowerment defined…
To invest with power.
To begin, you will notice that there are not a lot of occasions in the history of the Christian
church or other religious groups where the female gender has been empowered. When & if
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that empowerment came it was controlled, restricted & ultimately not allowed to flourish in
the manner that other organisations were.
In Ireland, in a general sense, empowerment came began with the National Women’s
Council of Ireland, which was formed in 1973. Today it represents over 300,000 women. The
aim of this organisation was to highlight the inequalities & injustice experienced by women.
To empower women to reach their full potential & to celebrate diversity among women.
Irish women like Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese, Sr. Stanislaus & Adi Roche, among many
others offer inspirational role models for this generation of Irish women.

The Beguines…An example of Empowerment – well sort of…

In the late 12th century women began to experiment with the possibility of a way of life
outside of the socially endorsed alternatives of wife or cloistered nun. These women, who
were not bound by vows, were not subject to papal enclosure & did not totally renounce
the possibility of marriage, became known as Beguines.
Some Beguines lived in “beguinages” (communal residences) or in their family homes.
Some woman lived independently, a radical departure for a woman at the time, whilst
others renounced home & family in their attempt to witness to radical poverty.
The Beguines were a spontaneous women’s movement, not connected with any male
group. There was no founder, no rule, and no constitution. Each Beguine community was
autonomous, there was no one who supervised or regulated the Beguine houses scattered
throughout northern Europe. To support themselves, the Beguines engaged in a number of
occupations & even some men were even attracted to their number.
They felt empowered by their faith in Jesus to go and live a life dedicated to him. One that didn’t have to be as a nun or a wife.
Their belief was that God had called into his service but not bound them to the constraints of the society in which they lived.
The “truth had set them free” and they would live by God’s rules and not man’s. This was
a revolutionary idea at the time, but unfortunately short lived.
There were a number of stages that lead to the Church taking control of the movement and
suppressing it. Probably the most significant was when a Beguine community reached the
level of the “beguinages”. That many women living outside of the churches control could
not be tolerated, as it was beginning to undermine their authority.
Previous to this there had been an ambivalent attitude to these women. Their commitment
was admired by all but the authorities feared the power of this movement & as a result
never granted them status of a religious community. This is exclusion not inclusion here.
A Beguine was expected to live simply, to work hard & to serve those in need. In trying to
live out an apostolic life they ran into trouble when they began using language of the church
service (commonly known as liturgy) to try & explain to the common person what was
occurring during Mass. This was seen as a dilution of the true meaning of “God’s word”,
which was not to be tolerated.
They had a strong devotion to the Eucharist (communion…breaking & eating of bread & the
drinking of wine to commemorate the death of Jesus & the forgiveness of sins).
They attracted unwanted attention when they asked for daily & weekly communion
services. At the time an ordinary member of a congregation might take part in communion 3
times a year. The church felt they had to act, as they were the only ones with the God-given
right to orchestrate and give out communion.
Their authority and God’s decrees were being eroded by the actions of these women.
Church opinion turned against them when the 4th Lateran Council of 1216 ruled out the
founding of any new orders.
The Council of Lyon in 1274 reiterated (repeated) this ban & found the Beguines in violation
of the ruling.
The Council of Vienna (1311-1312) named the Beguines as heretical & in the following years
Beguines had their property confiscated & they were forced to marry, to become nuns or
were executed.
In 1318, the Bishop of Cologne called for the dissolution of all Beguine associations & their
integration into Orders approved by the pope… again the “excluding” power of the Church.
…However, the Beguines demonstrated that it was possible for a woman to be dedicated
to God without living as a nun….and this can be classed as empowerment by their faith
(religion).
Among the most famous Beguines are Mechthild of Magdeburg, Beatrice of Nazareth,
Hadewijch of Brabant and Marguerite Porete…unfortunately many of the Beguines who
resisted the Church were tortured and put to death.
The Beguines…YouTube Clip

Helen Prejean – social reformer & religious writer…

Is a major voice in the fight against the death penalty (capital punishment) in the USA.
One would expect an American Catholic nun to believe the Old Testament’s widely-quoted
verse: “an eye for an eye” but Prejean’s stance on the death penalty contrasts with this
completely. She has spent her life looking after the unwanted, the outcasts, to mirror what
Jesus did in his ministry. Her faith in Jesus is her driving force in her fight to end the death
penalty in the USA. She believes that the commandment do not kill has to be adhered to.
She was born on the 21st of April, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She decided at an early
age that she felt called to a spiritual life and so upon turning 18 she joined the Sisters of

Saint Joseph Medaille. She also prospered academically and received a BA in English and
Education and an MA in Religious Education.
Her love of education led her to teach high school students and to become the Formation
Director for her religious community and also the Religious Education Director at the St.
Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans.1
In June 1981, she moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project- a black inner city project
where “everybody had a relative in jail” and began, reluctantly at first, living there alongside
four other nuns whilst working full-time at advocating for the poor & homeless.2
Later that year, she agreed to become a pen pal to a death row inmate named Patrick
Sonnier. This is where her real spiritual journey began. Sonnier was an inmate with a
troubled past who was convicted of killing two teenagers. He wrote to her about his life in
his prison cell and over time, she began visiting him and became his spiritual advisor. This
brought her to understand how difficult life on death row was for the inmates. They had not
only been condemned to death but had to anticipate their deaths “a thousand times”
before their executions.3
She was appalled at the stark conditions of the Louisiana prisons, the state of the justice
system, and of the injustice and immorality of capital punishment.
She found that there is a lot of selectivity in the process of sentencing someone to death, as
most of the inmates were poor, of an ethnic minority or had killed a white person or person
of status.

After four years on death row, Sonnier was eventually executed by electric chair in 1984.
Prejean stayed to witness the execution which left an “indelible”3 mark on her soul,
committing her to pursue justice forever.
The relationship she developed with Sonnier made her speak out against the death penalty,
having promised him to tell his story across the land. She realized nobody in Louisiana
worked full time talking to the public about the death penalty and so she decided to be the
one to devote herself to it.
Her first book, ‘Dead Man Walking’, is a non-fiction eyewitness account of her experiences
with her death row inmates and was an international best-seller. It was later adapted in to
an Academy Award-winning film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, giving worldwide
audiences an insight into an issue they may not have previously given any thought to.
1 ARCHITECTS OF PEACE FOUNDATION (2012) Architects of Peace- Sister Helen Prejean. [Online]
Available from: http://www.architectsofpeace.org/architects-of-peace/sr-helen-prejean [Accessed:
2 April 2013]
2 FITZGERALD, E. (2011) Activist nun urges end of death penalty. News-Times. 15 April. Available
from: http://www.newstimes.com/ [Accessed: 03/03/2013]
3 PREJEAN, Sr. H. (1997) Would Jesus pull the switch? Salt Of The Earth. [Online] Available
from: http://salt.claretianpubs.org/ [Accessed 28 March 2013]

Pope John Paul II was very taken with the film and subsequently intervened on behalf of
three people scheduled for execution in the USA, including a man who was most likely not
guilty.3
The film was turned into an extremely successful opera, prompting Prejean to write a
second equally popular book, ‘The Death of Innocents’, detailing the stories of falsely
accused death row prisoners.4 Prejean herself recognizes that she’s not just an ordinary nun
who “practice[s] blind obedience”5 but a remarkable reformer who has gone on to
accompany a total of six men to their executions.6
She has been at the forefront of the anti-death penalty movement in the United States for
nearly 30 years, campaigning unremittingly to abolish it. She has been instrumental in the
campaign, having taken on a leading role from 1993 to 1995 when she served as the
National Chairperson on the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.7
She condemned George W. Bush (former President of the US) and his legal counsel for the
hasty way they carried out hundreds of executions of sentenced prisoners in Texas. In 1998,
she was awarded the ‘Pacem in Terris’ Award which honoured her peace-making efforts and
in 2005 she received the ‘Peace Prize of the City of Ypres’ Award which recognized her
significant contribution to the quest for peace on earth. She has been nominated for and
has received many other awards.8
It is also worth mentioning her nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize and the fact that she is
rightly credited with helping the Roman Catholic Church to refine its position on the death
penalty.9
These achievements are remarkable enough in themselves but she has also reformed and
improved the lives of the inmates she has been advisor to.
For instance, she had such an impact on Patrick Sonnier’s life that he left her all his
possessions in his will. She has made it her mission to improve legal representation for
inmates as they suffer greatly at the hands of the justice system.
4 SISTER HELEN PREJEAN (2013) Sister Helen Prejean- Talking about life, death & social justice.
[Online] Available from: http://www.sisterhelen.org/biography/ [Accessed: 4 April 2013]
5 PREJEAN, Sr. H. (1994) Dead Man Walking. New York: Vintage Books
6 NATIONAL COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY (2011) National Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty. 144. [Online] Available from: http://ncadp.org/index.cfm?content=144 [Accessed: 30
March 2013]
7 PREJEAN, Sr. H. (2011). Interview with E. Manouse on 27th July 2011. USA. [Recording in possession
of author]
8 SISTER HELEN PREJEAN (2013) Sister Helen Prejean- Talking about life, death & social justice.
[Online] Available from: http://www.sisterhelen.org/honors-awards/ [Accessed: 2 April 2013]
9 THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR SISTER HELEN (2001) The Nobel Prize For Sister Helen Prejean. [Online]
Available from: http://saveonelife.com/ [Accessed: 27 March 2013]
27
She has encouraged others to follow in her footsteps by organizing training sessions for
those interested in becoming prisoners’ spiritual advisors.
The full extent of her impact is evident when she lays out the facts for us: 40 years ago,
there were less than 20 countries in the world that didn’t enforce the death penalty.
Because of increased awareness of human rights and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, we now have seen more and more countries turn away from it. Over the last 5 years,
death sentences have declined by 50% in Prejean’s native USA. In 2000, the Governor of
Illinois ordered a moratorium whilst in North Carolina and New Mexico; a moratorium has
almost been achieved.
Prejean explained in an interview that a recent Hart Poll showed that 80% of the American
public are now aware of the fact that many innocent people are on death row alongside the
guilty and so they are calling for a reform of the death penalty.10
She has been a revolutionary nun intent on making a difference and she questions the
inhumanity of execution, asking, “Is God vengeful, demanding a death for a death? Or is
God compassionate, luring souls into a love so great that no-one can be considered
‘enemy’?”11
Prejean has ignored the stereotypes about nuns spending their time merely teaching or
nursing the sick, explaining that in the gospel, Jesus spent his time with thieves, prostitutes
and the other “throwaways”3 of his day and so she continues (following Jesus’s example) to
spend her time with death row inmates, an experience she has found rewarding ever since
her early meetings with Sonnier which compelled her to educate others about this issue
that is so close to her heart.
Her method of reforming public perception of the death penalty and consequently the law
is making information about capital punishment known, unmasking the secrecy of the
process and therefore “creating doubt”5
in people’s minds about its humanity. She agreed
with what esteemed attorney Millar Farmer said to her when they fought for Sonnier’s lifeif proponents of the death penalty were actually to witness the executions, they would
“throw up”.5

She has taken every opportunity to promote her cause, made many contacts in the world of
journalism and maximised her media exposure, appearing on ABC World News Tonight, 60
Minutes, BBC World Service Radio, an NBC special series on the death penalty as well as
being featured in many articles. She has found that once reporters become knowledgeable
about the issue, they became sympathetic to her cause. The ‘Marshall hypothesis’
10 AND THEN ONE NIGHT, THE MAKING OF DEAD MAN WALKING: SISTER HELEN PREJEAN (2002)
Sister Helen Prejean. [Online] Available from: http://www.pbs.org/kqed/onenight/helenprejean/
[Accessed: 29 March 2013]
11 PREJEAN, Sr. H. (2006) The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful
Executions. New York: Vintage Books
28
corroborated this as it concluded that once people received even minimal information
about how the death penalty is imposed, their opinions of it were transformed.5
She has participated in workshops, public demonstrations, seminars and sponsored walks
such as the ‘Pilgrimage for Life’. She has lectured at hundreds of churches and colleges and
spoken at countless local, national and international human rights and social justice events.
Speaking at universities has enabled her to preach her message to young people with the
right of the vote but without preconceptions or old-fashioned values: they have the power
to make their voices heard and so Prejean is wise to direct her anti-death penalty message
at them as they are society’s hope to make a change for future generations and hopefully,
eventually outlaw capital punishment everywhere.
Similarly, she has targeted important people such as the Pope by means of letters delivering
her message and persuading him to use his influence to make a difference in regards to this
issue. There is no doubt her mission to reform society’s opinion of the death penalty has
been effective. Her dedication to her quest means she has visited over 30 states to deliver
her message that every human life has value and her advocacy has been recognized as a
worthy and powerful contribution to the reformed attitudes of society to the death penalty.
In doing so, Helen Prejean has followed the example of Jesus, who told his followers to love
their neighbour even if that neighbour was a murderer or a rapist.