Likewise, the decision to forgive earthly sins based on repentance and acceptance of Christ is also a matter for God's infinite wisdom and not man's fallible intellectual powers.
In all likelihood, there are explanations besides genuine remorse for one's sins that explain the unusually high religious conversion rates observed in prisons generally, and among those sentenced to life terms and to death, in particular. For one thing, all of us have a psychological need to think of ourselves as being good people. In then outside world, so called illicit pleasures and impulses that conflict with religious morality are a powerful temptation to stray from the moral path. Without immoral temptation, after all, there would be no motivation to sin in the first place. Even the natural impulse ton think of one's self as a good person is less powerful to many people than the draw of criminal activity. Once confined to a solitary cell without any opportunity to derive pleasure from sinful behavior, there is practically nothing to compete with the natural desire to think of one's self as a good person. In that respect, religious conversion in prison, especially on
In ordinary life, religious morality and acceptance of Christ requires the believer to conform his behavior to his religious beliefs, at least that is the case when none's religious beliefs are sincere, because repentance that is insincere or proffered in conjunction with continuation of sinful conduct is meaningless in the eyes of God. Sincerity is no longer necessary on death row, because there is no longer any opportunity to participate in any sinful conduct.
For another thing, remorse with or without religious conversion on death row is likely to be insincere, because it is difficult to know whether that remorse was really motivated by sincere empathy for the victim or simply by the regret over having been caught, prosecuted, convicted, and condemned to death. In many cases, even inmates who may believe that they are genuinely remorseful do not realize how much their own predicament, rather than genuine remorse for their victims, is the basis for their motivation.
Ultimately, religious convictions are only relevant on
earth to the extent they guide our moral conduct and
treatment of our fellow man. Religious conversion on death row after the fact is likely insincere. To whatever extent it may be sincere is only knowable and only relevant to God after the lawful execution of penal
law.
