Religion Not an Excuse for Criminal Acts

Stephanie Branson
SOC 202 11/2/07

Religion Not an Excuse for Criminal Acts
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0710/S00651.htm


This week I read an article in titled, Religion Not an Excuse for Criminal Acts. It was an article about how the UN rights experts warned against the use of religion as an excuse for criminal acts. It goes on to say how people’s religious beliefs should not be taken as a reason for anyone to do any kind of criminal actions that invade on the rights of others. Yet the freedom in pursuing one’s religion or belief must be protected as well as respected. They discuss how the problem is finding a balance between the two. They want to safeguard freedom of religion or belief yet they do not want this to be an excuse for any kind of violence. The quote that was given said “protection must be complemented by prevention efforts”.
This article was very interesting to me. I always saw religion as a belief and something positive for people to believe in, something that gives you hope, not violence. But then again if you think about all that is happening with Iraq then this article would fit perfectly for this situation. So thinking about this I do believe that there needs to be a balance between religion and criminal acts. But then again when you think about it, it is a hard decision. You want people to be able to believe in what they want to believe in yet if it is criminal then you are saying that they can’t. So what do you do? This is a tough one to answer. I believe the quote that was given is the best answer for this “protection must be complemented by prevention efforts”. So in other words you can believe in what you want to believe in just make sure that you do not harm others or cause criminal acts.