With the indictment of six men for the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, and the announcement that the government would be seeking the death penalty, I am sure there’s going to be more discussion of the treatment of those prisoners. Recently, there has already been a lot of discussion over the use of waterboarding, particularly in Congressional hearings around the use of torture in gathering intelligence.
I have to tell you that I have very mixed feelings about all of this. As someone who considers himself Christian, I am against the use of torture on principal. But on the other hand, how many lives were saved and how many additional attacks were thwarted because the right information was obtained in time? My church tells me that I should be against the death penalty because putting a man to death for his crimes is a lot like playing God. And what of those instances where innocent men have been sentenced to death and then cleared? How many died because of mistaken convictions in times before we had the ability to test DNA?
None of these issues has an easy, black and white answer. When you get into the issue of protecting against terrorists, or punishing heinous crimes, there is a whole lot of gray. I’m not sure anyone can confidently say, with any measure of certainty, that they have the definitive answer to these issues.
Today, it was announced that Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah militant was killed in Syria as the result of a car bomb explosion. This man was thought to be at least involved in, if not the mastermind of, the attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, the hijacking of a TWA airliner in 1985 during which a U.S. Navy diver was murdered and dumped on an airport tarmac, and other notorious acts of terrorism. I find it hard to feel sadness or regret over this man’s death if he was responsible for the atrocities attributed to him.
But at the same time, should I be celebrating the death of any individual who has not had an opportunity to address the charges against him? What if he really wasn’t responsible? Or, if he was, suppose he had gone through a change of heart and was working now for peace? I know that’s a stretch of the imagination, but it’s possible.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is considered to be the main planner of the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that killed over 3,000 people. He is one of the six that the U.S. government intends to put on trial for their lives. He is also thought to be responsible for the murder of American, Daniel Pearl, who was decapitated, probably by Mohammed. In other words, this is a man who refused to show mercy to his victim(s). Should mercy be shown to him?
I don’t have any good answers to the questions I raise. They are ideas and issues that I am constantly wrestling with, trying to figure out where I stand. In this Lenten season, as a Christian, I spend time in reflection on what my failings are in living out my faith. If I refuse to be merciful in my attitudes toward these men whose crimes are almost incomprehensible, am I failing in my faith? If only we could achieve the peace in the world that we long for. Then maybe we wouldn’t have to struggle so much with these questions.
Tough questions with many inner conflicts ..I seem to bounce back and forth on the issue..It’s a struggle..
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Robert: Inner conflicts is a good way of putting it. I think it’s a battle of heart over head.
Linda: In the long run, I think every does eventually have to answer for their wrongs. I think it’s part of our nature as human beings to want revenge. The problem is when we rationalize revenge and call it justice.
Dawn: There’s a large part of me that thinks the U.S. should abolish the death penalty for good. But there’s another part of me that heaves a sigh of relief when the Timothy McViegh’s of the world pay for their crimes with their lives.
Drowsey: You make an excellent point. What we don’t know is how often that happens. Or, is the fact that in some cases we get good information enough to justify the use? I don’t know.
This is definitely a conundrum because I believe that people definitely need to pay for their crimes and if a lot of people can be saved by having to use unorthodox methods on another … well … it’s still a very tough call.
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You’re so right. There is no black and white… too many grey area’s. We don’t have the death penalty in Canada… so it’s not something I give a lot of thought to. When it was abolished there was a prediction that homicide rates would go up but that never happened. It is a lot like playing God and too many innocent people have been wrongly accused so I’m glad we don’t have it. However that’s because it doesn’t directly affect me… I may feel differently if someone I loved was murdered… it’s hard to know. There really are no definitive answers.
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Just my opinion, but I think torture gets you the answers you want…not necessarily the right ones.
Great post…thought provoking for sure.
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this is a tough call.. there are way too many grey areas…
However, I am sorry if I am the only one who says this….but I am PRO Death Penalty in this case.
Sorry if that makes me a bad person.
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Meleah: It doesn’t make you a bad person at all. I’m not necessarily against the death penalty. I guess I’m getting to the point where I really want to see it used only in the most extreme cases. The 911 crimes would certainly qualify.
I think the only peace God promises us is inner peace.
Sin in the world will mean there will always be conflict.
This is easy to understand.
How to deal with the conflict…well perhaps lack of faith does play a big part in this.
God’s ways can be so different.
He wanted his people to overtake the city, He told them to march around the walls and blow instruments on the last day.
I often wonder if Israel is in conflict because of their lack of faith to His promises. He did promise them the land. Why fight for it-after all, it’s promised. Don’t they believe that?
On an earthly level though, it only makes sense to have military strength when those that hate you wish you harm.
In our own setting….we also have people who hate us for various reasons. Strength and actions that show strength seems the best peacemaker/deterrant at times….but I often wonder if it is.
I think that this is the case of a world so far from God, even the Godly can’t see things plainly at times, and even if we could, putting it into practice could be quite difficult, because we live in a world of sin where others in charge might not understand a different approach.
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Barbara: Thank you so much for your comment. Almost everything you’ve written is the involved in the struggle I have with the idea of evil and punishment. I just finished today’s post which is a short reference to a book I’ve started about the killing of the five Amish girls in Pennsylvania in 2006. The Amish community could certainly teach the rest of the world a thing or two about grace and forgiveness.
Scott: That burden of proof is a huge source of my discomfort as well. In the case of Tim McVeigh, there was little doubt that the right person was executed because he admitted to blowing up the Federal building in Oklahoma City. But, in dieing, did he take more information about what was really behind that terrible crime to the grave?
Excellent, thought provoking post.
I too have had much conflict over the use of the death penalty. I do believe that there are times when it may be justified due to the heinous nature of the crimes. (Just writing the previous statement made me uncomfortable). I know that I have heard of crimes where immediately, emotions erupt and I feel that the death penalty is warranted and justified if the guilty party is found. Part of my conflict comes with the burden of proof. I am not sure that any system of trial can totally be 100% sure in its findings, unless you account for confessions. From a purely human standpoint, is there really any difference between a government taking a life and a criminal beheading an innocent hostage? Emotionally, I say yes there is, but logically, and in regards to my own personal faith I struggle with the question.
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