Category: Lynn Walters
Surely some people deserve the death penalty
June 25th, 2008
There was yet another senseless, violent murder in Dallas last week. Two young men who ran a Christian music recording studio were killed and robbed as they left the studio after a late night of work.
The young men who were later arrested for their murders had other outstanding warrants. This week, they gave interviews to the media about the murders. Both were upset they only got $2 in the robbery, they blamed the victims for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the one who admitted to killing them, when asked whether he was sorry, responded: “Do it look like I got remorse?” he said.
I admit that my first thought was that he deserves the death penalty. I could find so many ways to justify it: they had outstanding warrants, killed two people who likely would have given them any cash they had and probably the car too, and who demonstrated no remorse for taking two lives.
But in the last few years I’ve come to oppose the death penalty, those things are common to most capital crimes. Killing two more young men is not going to resolve the problems that lead to these senseless murders, it will not stop future murders, nor will it bring back the two who were killed.
However, life in prison seems an appropriate minimum punishment. It is also one which allows for the possibility of repentance and redemption, though that seems a very far off possibility right now.
I admit this isn’t easy. There is a part of me that thinks we should wash our hands of these two criminals…but the part of me who is open to the teachings of Jesus believes in miraculous possibilities and is humble enough to know that I am not the final arbiter of justice or life.
Peace,
Lynn
Advice for Activists
June 16th, 2008In the movie Camden 28, one of the activists told of some advice given to them by Fr. Philip Berrigan. Berrigan said that an activist had to “remove coats of fear” first: The fear of losing your job, the fear of having people know that you are anti-war, the fear of rejection by friends and family, the fear of prison.
Berrigan had faced all of those fears. He and his brother, Daniel, were two of the first priests to publically oppose the war in Vietnam. They spent time in prison for their protests, including one in which they took files from a draft board office and burned them with homemade napalm in the parking lot. They inspired an generation to live their faith, to stand for justice and perhaps, most importantly, to rediscover the radical Jesus.
What are your fears of becoming an activist? How could H4PJ help you to overcome those fears?
Peace,
Lynn
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