Because virtually all faiths offer a set of moral and behavioral laws on which everyone is expected to base their life decisions, religion and crime are inexorably linked. While today in our society we seek to separate the two controversial topics as much as possible, it cannot be denied that religion provides rules and regulations that align with those of government, and that a compass Morality and spirituality play a role in managing these issues. criminal cases. Regardless of the extent of the separation of church and state in the contemporary movement toward secularism, people still swear on the Bible in court and talk about justice and repentance in church. Religion, especially Christianity, has a subtle way of infiltrating criminal convictions and punishments because in the past, laws came from religious doctrines and were enforced by religious leaders who were often one with government leaders. Although the juxtaposition of the judgment of faith and the justice system has certainly diminished today, its past presence leaves its mark in many aspects of human culture, particularly in the arts such as literature. For example, this event can be seen in In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka, which tells the chilling story of a stranger's visit to a remote and primitive land in the tropics where prisoners are brought to be sentenced and punished. Although the system implemented in the story does not blatantly reflect religious beliefs, many aspects and objects of the plot strongly symbolize the ways of a world overseen by a merciless god. Kafka's In the Penal Colony uses religious symbolism in a way that demonstrates the cruel incompetence of a justice system based on blind faith in a higher being, whether that being is a god or a government. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay First of all, the setting and the device, if one were to include the device as an integral part of the setting, strongly symbolize many parts of the Christian faith. The penal colony itself is reminiscent of a kind of purgatory; the country is described as "a small, deep, sandy valley, closed on all sides by barren slopes" (1) in which "the sun was excessively strong, stuck in the shadeless valley, and one could hardly collect one's thoughts" (2). The penal colony is enveloped by stifling heat and an inescapable dazzling sun that resembles how one imagines the fiery tortures of purgatory. It is inhabited only by the punished who came here to be executed slowly and torturously and by the punishers who work there to keep the community functioning. If the colony is a purgatory that keeps its inhabitants confined to their barbaric acts and experiences, the dark pit beneath the device represents the hell into which the tortured and bloodied body is ultimately thrown. The device itself bears an uncanny resemblance to a crucifix in that its shape matches that of the condemned person's body and also pierces him with a series of long needles similar to the nails on the cross; since “everyone can see through the glass” (6), the punishment was once a huge public spectacle where “the whole valley was overflowing with people…they came just to watch” (10). The entire image of the naked convict lying on the bed of the machine, being pricked by needles under the excited gaze of a crowd, is a striking comparison with the.