Religion, culture behind Texas execution tally
By Ed Stoddard Sun Aug 12, 7:57 PM ET
DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas will almost certainly hit the grim total of 400 executions this month, far ahead of any other state, testament to the influence of the state's conservative evangelical Christians and its cultural mix of Old South and Wild West.
"In Texas you have all the elements lined up. Public support, a governor that supports it and supportive courts," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
"If any of those things are hesitant then the process slows down," said Dieter. "With all cylinders working as in Texas it produces a lot of executions."
BIBLE BELT INFLUENCE
Like his predecessor, Governor Perry is a devout Christian, highlighting one key factor in Texas' enthusiasm for the death penalty that many outsiders find puzzling -- the support it gets from conservative evangelical churches.
This is in line with their emphasis on individuals taking responsibility for their own salvation, and they also find justification in scripture. "A lot of evangelical Protestants not only believe that capital punishment is permissible but that it is demanded by God. And they see sanction for that in the Old Testament especially," said Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Not everyone agrees on capital punishment. Sometimes people are against it, but when they become victims of a sordid crime they then demand it. Even in our nearly foolproof system of twelve-person juries, the innocent can go to their death and the guilty can go free. It is hard to mete out justice in this life.
Jesus Christ is history's most famous example of the results of mob justice, of scapegoating to appease offended communities, of trials gone awry, and of religious hypocrisy in the seat of power. Never was there a more innocent victim of capital punishment. And what an awful death it was.
Joseph, in the Old Testament, was also an innocent man sent to prison for rape. He is also a symbol of resurrection, in that he came back to rule and reign after he was rejected by his brethren and accused falsely and placed in prison (symbolic of burial).
Jesus' accusers were not vile and wicked men: they were priests. They watched him with concern because he was doing something new, and something they interpreted as threatening their power-base. Since he was doing nothing they could condemn him for before the people, they sought to corner him in his words. It was there they found the reason to have him executed: he was a blasphemer, because he made himself into God.
The article above links evangelical/ fundamentalists with a voracious appetite for capital punishment. These people not only see executing the evil perpetrators of heinous crimes as benefiting society but as biblical. It is like an ethnic cleansing of the worst elements.
The problem is when eye-for-an-eye goes awry. Many Muslim societies are what we call "theocratic": ruled by a religious elite. So effective is their legal system that crime is curtailed to a high degree. If you rape, you are castrated. If you steal, you lose a limb. And this same Hammurabi thinking goes for the evil nations outside Islam. Some Muslims feel these infidels too need to be punished, even destroyed, like America for instance.
And the church, too, once put on an inquisition, not to mention the Crusades. The thinking is the same. And how often did innocent men and women die to placate a bloodthirsty but "righteous" cause?
The answers don't come easy. Religious men, like wicked men, are sometimes prone to violence and brutality. And who is more blind than the fanatic? Too often, in this world, the ends justify the means. And who defines what those ends are? How sad it is if righteous causes turn into brutal machinery. Jesus made a glaring example of this problem.
I'm not trying to hang high the Texas tendency to possible overkill. It is odd that the rest of the nation is tending to the other direction. Even Texas may be backing off. And the evangelical-right no doubt means well. There is that odd coupling of anti-abortion with pro-capital-punishment, though. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what the reasoning is.
But there was no reasoning on that crucial day in 30AD, either ~ when the Savior was nailed to a crude cross. Of course, his death was hardly by lethal injection: lethal suffering is a better term. Can societies find a better alternative? Some would say, better to err on the side of incarceration. Human life is salvageable. Many people see the error of their ways in prison: others (like Charles Manson) are so psychotic they are beyond being penitent. And we have seen even serial killers seriously change their tune.
The questions remain: Is society better served by exterminating its vermin? Is justice better served by liquidating humans who may never have had a chance in the first place? Who is actually guilty in all of this: those who perpetrate the crimes or those who looked the other way when the criminal was growing up? In the end, all of us are guilty. So do we approach these problems with compassion or an attitude of vengeance? Sadly, sometimes, the church seems bent on using the sword, or the guillotine, or the firing squad. Odd, since so many in that great institution lost their lives as Jesus did, at the hands of a "justice" system gone mad.
5 comments:
This is by far your most outrageous left wing propaganda I have ever heard. Did I use the Right version of heard? no to be confused with Herd as In herd of Cattle which produces cow pies, which has a direct correlation with your conclusions. The people who get the shot(I prefer firing squad) in most cases killed someone without mercy. Maybe a child after they raped the child and torchered her. Paul said, he bares not the sword in vain. Justice is real and God puts people in place to execute His word even if its a word of vengeance. Watch the Chinese If America doesnt get right the Chinese will be His sword. America has been the Sword against the Muslims. God is Just and Killing a killer is justice and right. If they get saved in Prison then their execution is a door into heaven. The reason evangelicals feel its OK to kill a killer is because the Bible sets down Crimes and punishments in both New and Old testaments. Come on Al, quit reading the feminine NIV bible.
Actually, my point was not to come down hard on either side of the controversy. But I do wonder if Jesus would be gung-ho for capital punishment when He was Himself the innocent victim of it. Many Christians in history were not only against it but victims also. Other Christians were torturers, doing it in the name of God, and sometimes killing other Christians.
But it is not an easy debate. You make some good points. The problem with justice is that juries and judges are mere men, sinners themselves, and hardly omniscient enough to decide to take a man's life. They often make mistakes and innocent people wait on death row. But if you have a clear conscience about all that, in the name of political vengeance, then you are at least a Texas Christian in spirit.
I understand your argument: I made it for years. But I'm a bit more cautious now. Is anyone who stops to think about things now a liberal?
My main thrust there was the public face that evangelicals model, or how they are perceived. I know they aren't bloodthirsty. But there is no evidence, actually, that capital punishment deters crime. And it costs more to execute than it does to keep them in a cell for the rest of their lives. Mostly their death serves as a scapegoat for the persons offended. It did for the Jews as well, "Crucify Him!"
My dear Brother,
Jesus was innocent. 99.999999999% of these are guilty of real bead stuff. The deterrent is they won't do it again. That is what law is for. For example the 2 paroled felons who broke into the doctors house in Connecticut. They raped the Mom and the 12 year old girl. Beat the dad with a baseball bat threw him down the stairs to the basement. Took the mom to the bank the next day after all night torture of the 17 and 13 year old and their mom. Made the Mom take out 15,ooo dollars then strangled her to death after she got home from the bank. Then they tied the two girls to a bed post and set the house on fire burning them alive. These were people who worked with Diabetics. The day was a Doctor who's specialized in diabetes. They all did charitable work. Need I say more. Some folks just just not live they are demons not humans. Seed of the snake. Branham was right. Life proves it every day. I rest my case. Your witness
That's psychotic homicide and, of course, horrible, and we don't want to let people like that roam around. They have to be locked up. And, of course, it doesn't hurt my feelings if the state decides to zap 'em, or whatever.
Another case was the one where the mother's young Christian son was killed when a drunk teenager came over a hill and hit him head-on. The drunk kid was incarcerated and eventually the mother visited him and forgave him for the death of her son. That forgiveness led the boy to Christ.
Several serial killers also professed faith in Christ and repented in prison. The Son of Sam now teaches Bible studies. The Manson girls all became Christians.
This is not an argument against capital punishment; it just points out that as long as a person is living there's hope for them.
According to Justin these psycho killers will be saved anyway. Maybe what we need is a thermonuclear war to wipe out all mankind and everyone will be saved. We can dispense with all this hard gospel work and get 'er done. There's the answer Pat. Execute the human race and our problems will be over.
Take your med's Al,
Some people were made to be burned. Unless the Son of Sam had the devil cast out I wouldn't want to be alone with him if he raised the dead before my eyes.
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