Today's topic is the death penalty. And I know, you're thinking "oh, the death penalty was so 2000." But I'm not concerned as much with the death penalty in and of itself (at first), but with the attitude of those Christians who are inscrutably pro-life (against murder) and pro-death penalty (pro-murder). In my mind, you cannot be both... you have to choose Old Testament view of the Law or New Testament view of life in the Spirit, New Creation, and living not for this world. In short, it seems a bit hypocritical to be both... yet so many Republicans are.
My problem really is in deciding McCain or Obama. I'm not concerned as much with experience and economy (economy is an animal that goodwill kills and heals more than anything in my mind, not a machine). I'm concerned with consistency and issues.
McCain is all about pro-life. His new VP candidate, Sarah Palin, said no to an abortion even though she knew she would give birth to a child with Downs syndrome (big step). However, he is also about making the death penalty harsher and more wide spread.
How can you be pro-death and anti-death? What could these men and women have done that warrants death? (I know, you'll tell me they murdered and raped and stole). I get it. But, as a Christian, I have a huge problem with the death penalty because it says what they did is unforgivable. It says, they have no hope... they deserve to die. In short, Jesus' death cannot ransom those sinners... they are beyond his reach.
In Ezekiel 33.11, God talks to Ezekiel:
11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Romans 5:8 "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
Christ came to destroy those very things in us that cause us to murder and steal and rape and hate. Can we then take the judgment and the power away from him and do it for ourselves?
If biblical punishment is one of reconciliation and forgiveness, have we been getting it completely wrong? In our criminal justice system we have about a 98% rate of recidivism... which means 98% of people who go to prison end up back there. This of course feeds our notion that they are just bad people who deserve to be away from society. My faith and several viewings of The Shawshank Redemption lead me to believe that this isn't true.
In our retributive system, prisoners are supposed to SUFFER for their crimes. But that isn't really the system we see in the bible, nor is it what we would want for our self. When our children do something naughty, we want them to learn from their error, not necessarily suffer. Parenting books hail the use of natural consequences as a positive way to teach children how to behave.
In short, our system does not bring about the results we want. Prisoners should go to jail to reform and learn how to be productive members of society, not just be punished and get harder and meaner and less abandoned to following basic codes of decency... but that is precisely what we see.
Each person begins as a small child, and each child does not begin full of malice and hatred. It takes years to get there. If a person can learn to be horrible, they can learn to be decent. I'm not suggesting that crime is a mental illness that has to be treated, I'm saying that crime is a choice that people make and for whatever reason they made it, they can learn to make other choices. Some people choose to eat cookies until they're 300 pounds. Some people choose to smoke cigarettes. Some people choose to cheat on all their partners. Some people choose to sell drugs, cheat, and steal and even kill, and they can learn to choose not to.
Recently my church, HTB, has begun Alpha for Prisons, a program that goes into prisons in West London and gets inmates to ask questions about God and morality and their purpose in life. It has some worship, some food, and talking. The people who go treat the inmates like real people, not horrible blots on the canvas of society, and the beautiful thing is that it's working. It's showing people full of anger and hate that they don't have to be this way. They can be transformed in their minds and hearts.
Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Usually this passage is paired with the hope of Christ's second coming, but I want to extend it out to the reformation of society. Can we hope that a man that once raped someone can be delivered of his sins and transformed into a good person? Can we hope that one day we will be able to love the men on death row as much as Christ does?
Romans 9:15-16 says "'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy."
We cannot earn our salvation, and so it makes sense that God can show mercy and compassion on anyone he so chooses, even rapists and murderers, even the people we hate. And if we continue to hate and fear them, not only are we hypocrites to what God is working in us, we are letting sin turn us into what God doesn't like, because love, and only love is the fulfilling of the law.
I enjoyed reading this post. (Hey by the way, haven't talked to you in forever!) Anyway.. I know it just doesn't happen when it comes right down to it, in fact it's quite the exact opposite, but this is why we have, or need, a separation of church and state. I understand there are many problems with this idea, in that our instilled understandings of right and wrong is taught to us through the use of religion and biblical examples and stories.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, in our prison system there is a 98% recidivism rate. That is an overwhelming statistic. Perhaps it does not point to the fact that these are "just bad people" per se, but maybe just that, yes, the system just doesn't work. This is also a well known fact. Unfortunately, the vastness of the prison system and the continued growth of its population by said "bad people" makes it near impossible to reform the system that is in place. Consider that right now, at this time, we do not have a system that creates favorable results, would it not be ill-advised and quite unfair to the "good" citizens, who could easily become victims of these people, to simply give these people a second chance?
I agree with you about the hypocrisy of being both pro-life and pro-death penalty, but unfortunately our political system doesn't work much better than our prison system. The presidential hopefuls, like any other candidate for an office, will say what they need to to get themselves into the position they want. We can only look at their character and hope that when they get there they will perform with our best interest in mind.
That said, I am pro-death penalty for all the reasons I mentioned above and more, I'm sure. However, I also do not have a religious lifestyle of any kind and am simply making these decisions based on what I've learned in my short 24 years here. I have many issues with organized religion and people who call themselves Christians, but I really admire your faith and it seems like you use the faith you have for good things. From my understanding, your portrayal of God is an accurate one that is often misconstrued, either purposely or out of ignorance, by people that talk about issues like this.
Again, I really enjoy reading your stuff!
Hey, it's Matt Sanderson. :)
ReplyDeleteAbout Mrs. Palin's supposed Downs Syndrome child... well, it looks like it might not be hers, but her 16-year-old daughter's. Makes sense, right? Nice, conservative, right-wing politician, she certainly can't go around with a trollop for a daughter, so she claims the kid's her own (a pregnancy which she doesn't announce until the seventh month, during which her belly looks perfectly normal and she's traveling much more than a pregnant woman should) and the Alaskan government quietly removes images of her slightly-bulging daughter from their website. Subtle.
It's a story that I doubt will get sufficient coverage, or receive sufficient investigation. But then she's already being investigated for possibly abusing her authority to remove her enemies from their jobs, so who knows? Bottomline, I liked this woman when I first saw her. Now, however, I see she's probably just another politician. "Pro-life" is a mighty attractive banner to run under, but I have a feeling it's covering the more important issues.
Anyway, that's my "Matt's slowly turning into a pinko commie" diatribe of the day.
Hey weave it's me. First of all to your friend Matt S. The baby with down syndrome is NOT Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol's baby. Bristol is 5 months pregnant with her own child. I also remember reading the story in the news when Palin gave birth to her youngest child.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know me, I'm so for the death penalty and I'm so not hypocritical. Frankly I want people like the crazy and heinous individuals I have to study to be put to death.
As for your 98% recidivism statistic, you need to be specific. Not all offenders re-offend, and if they are you need to look at what they did and why they are re-offending before you start tossing that statistic around.
Frankly it's a pet peeve of mine when people who don't study the criminal justice system in depth think they're experts from reading a few articles (you know I still love you anyway). When these people start going into maximum security prisons, and talking with the inmates I will take their opinions seriously.
As for McCain's views vs Palin's views, well you know politics, it's just the nature of the beast. You cannot please everyone.
You write very well.
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