Religion and crime

• Many crimes break religious laws and teachings

  • Christianity, Judaism and Islam are against crimes like hate crime, theft and murder as they break religious morals.
  • Christians and Jews are strongly against murder and theft as they break two of the Ten Commandment. In Islam the Quran also condemns murder and theft.
• • Murder is often seen as the worst crime as it goes against the idea of sancity of life (the belief that life is sacred) held by all three religions.
  • Theft and hate crimes disregard religious teachings that people should be treated equally as the offender shows no concern for the victim.
• Christians work to prevent crimes.

  • Christian’s are strongly against crime. They are told to care for others “love thy neighbour as yourself.” Committing a crime like theft or hate crime doesn’t treat the victim as an equal. Murder is seen as destroying something created by god.
  • In the past Christian’s have defied laws to fight for what’s right. Eg. Martin Luther king. In these cases Christians may support breaking laws. “We must obey god not human beings“.
• Christians work to prevent crimes.

  • Some people might be driven to crime by poverty. Christians May take actions to reduce poverty to try and prevent this. For example they might donate to food banks.
  • Christian groups also play their part to try and prevent crime. For example street pastors who help people out at night have helped to lower crime rates and prevent violence.
• Muslims believe crime interrupts the relationship with Allah.

  • Muslims believe that on the day of judgement, those who have committed crimes might not be sent to jannah.
  • Many Muslims believe that a life of crime doesn’t allow believers to focus on what really matters - their faith and connection with Allah.
• Ways Muslims help to reduce crime.

  • Muslims hope that key elements of their religion help reduce the likelihood of crime. For example compulsory charitable donations (zakat) help to tackle poverty.
  • Alcohol, drugs and gambling are banned reducing their chance of addiction.
  • Parents are taught to follow teachings in the Quran to give their children the best possible upbringing preventing them from turning to crime.
  • Islam teaches Muslims to speak out against unjust laws that go against Allah‘s teachings by protesting.
  • Some help to reduce crimes by helping prisoners and ex offenders.
• • Muslims believe that murder is one of the worst crimes “whoever kills a soul it is as if he had slain mankind entirely“.
  • Theft and hate crimes defy Islamic teachings about people being equal.
• When crimes are committed, the shari’ah courts look thoroughly into the circumstances around the crime so the defendant is punished correctly.
• Judaism forbids murder and theft in the Noahide laws.

  • The noahide laws are laws that Jews believe everyone in the world should follow and they state that murder and theft are forbidden. Hate crimes go against Jewish teachings on equality.
  • Crime goes against God’s teachings - Judaism teaches that people who disobey god will be punished by him.
• Some aspects of Judaism work to reduce the chances of crime.

  • Jewish financial aid is donated to charity and help to tackle poverty.
  • Jewish parents are told to guide their children and to make sure they know what’s right and wrong.
  • Some rabbis work with the Jewish prison chaplaincy in order to provide support for Jewish prisoners. The support offenders receive can help them to turn their backs on crime when they leave prison.
• Many Jews would protest against unjust laws and even break them as there are examples in the Torah of defying the law for what is right. In the Torah, two midwives were told by the king to kill Hebrew baby boys but they didn’t follow his instructions.