Post by Anja on Aug 14, 2006 4:02:58 GMT -5
Pastor has rewritten Bible to fit his own point of view
Recently I read a letter to the editor titled "Death Penalty is God's
Supreme Justice" (Commentary, Aug. 4). I need to take issue with Dean
Rutherford, pastor of Hemet Valley Christian Church.
I don't know him or this church, but I am dismayed at the intolerance of
his point of view. My Bible simply says, "You shall not kill."
Pastor Rutherford has rewritten the words of the Bible to fit a point of
view or personal interpretation.
Be that as it may, if we're going to use the Bible to guide our judicial
system, I would like to point the good pastor to Matthew 5:6: "Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
If we hang the Ten Commandments on the walls of our court rooms and
legislatures, I would also like to see the complete Beatitudes next to
them.
Personally, I believe these belong in our hearts and not in our faces.
In the case of swift justice, if we did not allow for the appeal process
currently in place, we would likely have killed 123 innocent persons who
did not belong on death row.
This is the number of persons who have been exonerated from death row
since the death penalty was reinstated. They've served in some cases
multiple decades of wrongful incarceration on death row. Recently, it has
been discovered that Texas most likely executed 2 innocent inmates.
Therefore, promoting swift justice is promoting injustice.
It is amazing to me how many people still say the death penalty
"preserve(s) the quality and sanctity of human life." It's as if you're
saying, "I'll show you how precious human life is by taking your life."
I'm sure this is a hangover from the false concept that the death penalty
is a deterrent, which it is not. The job of the government is to protect
us.
Life without release is protecting us and at a much lower cost. In most
cases, the cost to prosecute a capital case - with the special appeals and
guidelines for interrogations, research of mitigating circumstances,
segregation from the general prison population, and the execution -
exceeds the cost to keep an inmate in prison well beyond the average life
span of an inmate.
In the majority of these cases, the defendant requires a public defender
because they are of limited economic resources.
To ensure justice, it is important that our public defenders be well
funded. Please look at the statistics of who is on death row. You will
find a disproportionate population to the general population when
comparing race, ethnicity, and economic status.
The death penalty is not perfect. The imperfections disproportionately
kill the innocent. The death penalty no longer has a place in a modern
civilized society.
JOHN CUMMINGS
President, Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty
(source: The Hemet Valley Chronicle, Aug. 11)
Recently I read a letter to the editor titled "Death Penalty is God's
Supreme Justice" (Commentary, Aug. 4). I need to take issue with Dean
Rutherford, pastor of Hemet Valley Christian Church.
I don't know him or this church, but I am dismayed at the intolerance of
his point of view. My Bible simply says, "You shall not kill."
Pastor Rutherford has rewritten the words of the Bible to fit a point of
view or personal interpretation.
Be that as it may, if we're going to use the Bible to guide our judicial
system, I would like to point the good pastor to Matthew 5:6: "Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
If we hang the Ten Commandments on the walls of our court rooms and
legislatures, I would also like to see the complete Beatitudes next to
them.
Personally, I believe these belong in our hearts and not in our faces.
In the case of swift justice, if we did not allow for the appeal process
currently in place, we would likely have killed 123 innocent persons who
did not belong on death row.
This is the number of persons who have been exonerated from death row
since the death penalty was reinstated. They've served in some cases
multiple decades of wrongful incarceration on death row. Recently, it has
been discovered that Texas most likely executed 2 innocent inmates.
Therefore, promoting swift justice is promoting injustice.
It is amazing to me how many people still say the death penalty
"preserve(s) the quality and sanctity of human life." It's as if you're
saying, "I'll show you how precious human life is by taking your life."
I'm sure this is a hangover from the false concept that the death penalty
is a deterrent, which it is not. The job of the government is to protect
us.
Life without release is protecting us and at a much lower cost. In most
cases, the cost to prosecute a capital case - with the special appeals and
guidelines for interrogations, research of mitigating circumstances,
segregation from the general prison population, and the execution -
exceeds the cost to keep an inmate in prison well beyond the average life
span of an inmate.
In the majority of these cases, the defendant requires a public defender
because they are of limited economic resources.
To ensure justice, it is important that our public defenders be well
funded. Please look at the statistics of who is on death row. You will
find a disproportionate population to the general population when
comparing race, ethnicity, and economic status.
The death penalty is not perfect. The imperfections disproportionately
kill the innocent. The death penalty no longer has a place in a modern
civilized society.
JOHN CUMMINGS
President, Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty
(source: The Hemet Valley Chronicle, Aug. 11)