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Visiting Instructor of Religious Studies Scott Seay present eda paper at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Nov. 16-20. His paper was titled "Rapists and Arsonists: Racial Stereotypes and Capital Crime in Colonial New England." It explored how eighteenth-century New England ministers reflected and reinforced popular stereotypes of race and crime in sermons that were delivered immediately prior to public executions. 

Specifically, the paper explores what Seay call these preachers'  "racially coded theology of sin" which, in essence, argued that young black men are more likely to commit serious crime -- especially crimes of a violent sexual nature -- and that this predisposition justified punishing their "sinfulness" with special severity.  The paper suggests that the contemporary problem of racism in the criminal justice system -- far from being only a contemporary phenomenon -- is fed by roots that lie deep in the soil of American history and religion.

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