What Happens to Convictions When Death Comes to Call

There was a provocative article in Sunday's NY Times about Cheshire United Methodist Church in Cheshire, CT. The church's membership and ministers have been active and vocal in their opposition to the death penalty. They have protested executions and had events where members signed documents asking that if they were murdered prosecutors not seek the death penalty against the person(s) accused of the crime. Yet, these firmly held beliefs were challenged when one of the church members and her two daughters were brutally murdered in their own home.

Two men were caught fleeing the home and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against them. The church has debated how to respond to the killings and whether to speak against the death penalty in this case. The husband and father of the victims was not home the night of the murders and survived to face unimaginable grief. Some members believe the murdered wife and mother killed, who happened to be an opponent of the death penalty on religious grounds, also happened to sign one of the documents asking prosecutors not to seek the death penalty in the event they were murdered. Her house was badly damaged in the fire and no document has surfaced. Meanwhile, the surviving husband/father of the victims has made no statement on the matter, although friends say he would not want the church to make an issue out of his personal tragedy.

It is a heart-breaking story that raises many questions about what happens to our principles and convictions when we are faced with real tragedy and pain. This story demonstrates the real-world complications that come with holding any absolute position on the complicated moral issues of our time. Opposition to the death penalty remains somewhat of an abstraction until you know the victim(s) or you know the accused. Opposition to abortion rights is rather straightforward until you know a woman who has been faced with the difficult decision to have one or not. It is easy to condemn homosexuals--just as long as they remain a vague "them" rather than real people or even family members. It is more difficult to oppose the war when you have a loved one in the military serving in Iraq. When the difficult issues of our world become personal, it becomes more difficult to hold an absolute view.

I don't mean to equate the four issues I've mentioned: death penalty, homosexuality, abortion and war. Rather, I mean to point out that each one is complex, and when we think about the people involved as people rather than as issues or statistics, absolute positions get called into question.

In the case of the death penalty, I remain an opponent of it unequivocally, because I believe all life is sacred and execution amounts to revenge and allows for no reconciliation or restoration. I also believe that the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the death penalty serves as no deterrent to violent crime. That being said, I know that if it were my wife or child killed, I would want revenge. God forbid that I ever have to be in that position, but if I am, I hope that I am not in the position to pass judgment.

I have a good friend who is a state public defender at the sentencing stage of death penalty cases. He and I have had many discussions about the difficulty of his job--defending people that he rarely likes and often abhors, because he believes every person no matter what they have done deserves legal defense and because he opposes the death penalty and believes the justice system is often stacked against people who find themselves facing capital charges. My friend admits that if someone he loved were killed in the manner his clients are accused of doing, it would be difficult to hold onto his convictions. Good thing, he would never be asked to defend a case he was close to. When I've asked him what it's like to hear the victims' family speak, he describes it as agonizing. Yet, he also says talking to the families of the defendant is often just as agonizing. The fallout from violence is far and wide even when violence is done by the state in the name of justice.

The complexity of the death penalty has come to my mind recently as I have read the news coverage about Lisa Montgomery--which is a local story here in northwest Missouri. It seems to me that if anybody deserves the death penalty it would be her. I know that if I knew the victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, her kidnapped baby, Victoria Jo, or her family, I would probably want Montgomery to die. Yet, since I have some sense of objectivity, I still believe that only God should decide who lives or dies. I'm not sure how my own convictions would hold up if I were closer to a crime like this one, but I stand amazed when I meet people who manage to hang onto theirs in such dark moments.

Here in America, our convictions, ideals, beliefs and principles ask very little of us most of the time. In many parts of the world and throughout history, people of faith and principles have paid dearly and suffered greatly for what they believe. When death comes calling and the stakes really are life or death, what will you believe? What will I believe? What will we believe?

Grace and Peace,

Chase