Community Learning Day events focus on morality, religion, and public policy

On October 2, TCNJ sponsored its 8th annual Community Learning Day on the theme “Religion, Culture, and Identity.” Critically acclaimed author and social activist Sister Helen Prejean spoke to the campus on the topic of morality and the death penalty. Following her lecture was a panel discussion that brought together academic and religious figures to discuss the relationship between religion and public policy.

In her lecture, Prejean, author of this year’s summer reading book Dead Man Walking, said that the death penalty is merely a “political symbolism of being tough on crime.” She feels that the practices of the death penalty reflect issues of racism and class discrimination in our country.

“The death penalty is imbalanced because it depends on the victim’s race and status,” Prejean explained. “It is just a political symbolism of being tough on crime.”

A native of New Orleans, Prejean attended an all-girls, mainly white, private Catholic school which, she admits, did not expose her to the realities of poverty, prejudice, and inequality that existed right there in her own city. Her commitment to the social justice movement first came about after she did service in the housing projects of New Orleans.

After her work in the housing projects, Prejean went on to serve the New Orlean’s Adult Learning Center and, during this time, she became a pen pal to an inmate on death row, Patrick Sonnier.

Sonnier asked Prejean to visit him in prison in 1981, and she agreed, unaware of how influential this decision would be in shaping her future

“I saw his face for the first time and it was a human face,” Prejean said.

Prejean offered spiritual advisement to Sonnier until his execution in 1984. This compelling story was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film Dead Man Walking starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.

As a staunch opponent of capital punishment, Prejean has since worked avidly to provide support for both inmates on death row as well as families of murder victims. She formed a support group, Survive, which provides families with counseling and resources.

Families, she said, do not need capital punishment to heal. Instead, she argues, they need counseling and support for “real healing.”

After the lecture, Prejean joined other religious and academic figures for a panel discussion that addressed the topic of “Religion and Public Policy.” The panel, moderated by History Professor Celia Chazelle, featured Khalid Blankinship, associate professor of religion and coordinator of the MA program in religion at Temple University; Rev. Dr. Dan Bottorff, associate minister and New Jersey marriage and family therapist at Creative Living Counseling Center in Allendale; and Michele Tarter, associate professor of English at the College.

The panel discussed such issues as the relationship between religion and the state, prison inmates’ rights, and our society’s “culture of violence.” The consensus of the panel was that “community” is necessary in order to breach gaps of religious identities.

“Everything is connected to everything. If we can understand our connection to each other then we can have respect and compassion for each other,” said Tartar.

Each year, the Committee for Cultural and Intellectual Community (CCIC), which is made up of TCNJ faculty and staff members, selects a theme that it believes deserves critical examination across the disciplines. In addition to Community Learning Day, several future events have been planned in accordance with the theme of “Religion, Culture, and Identity.”  More information about the program can be found online at www.tcnj.edu/~philos/religion/Fall2007.htm.