Mark Tooley is quite right when he argues that the term “pro-life” ought not be expanded into a general protest against all things unjust. Objecting to, and working against, the slaughter of millions before they have had the chance to puke-up mother’s milk is quite a big enough project to occupy all seven letters of the designation: “pro-life.” It is a title taken on as a sign of protest against the genocide of our age. For that reason, I will not argue against Eric Holder on pro-life grounds. The United States Attorney General announced yesterday that he will seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect accused of carrying out the Boston bombings. The grounds on which this decision by Mr. Holder are to be criticized are on the grounds of Christianity.
To be clear, to be a Christian is to be pro-life. One may not claim Christ without at ounce claiming all members of the species he came to save. Due to the fact of the Incarnation, it is the case that Our Lord was once a “fetus,” a gloriously morally-evasive term. But, there are members of the pro-life community who do not claim Christ, and to them, I have nothing to say. But for those who do claim Christ, or rather those who acknowledge his claim on them, the seeking of death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaey is a quest to be opposed.
It is to be opposed on the simple basis of the souls of the two men involved. First there is Dzhokhar’s soul. The death penalty is sought against him because of: “The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm (which) compel this decision.” There is no doubt that Dzhokhar has done evil. He has taken the lives of innocent people. We are told in Scripture both that we know neither the day nor the hour, and that we must run the good race. Dzhokhar turned the finish of a marathon into the finish of several lives. Who among the dead would have suspected that both races should come to a close in the same moment?
Yet, he is also a bearer of life. That is to say, he is here because God put him here. And while one may be pro-life by simply accepting the fact of the Lord’s infancy, it is the fact of the Lord’s death which compels the Christian conscience. For in his last hours on earth, Christ forgave his murders. He even claimed for them a kind of ignorance. They did not know the gravity of their actions. They did not know the value of life.
Dzhokhar does not know the value of a human life, but ending his through the injection of poison ensures he never will. While our Lord gave his killers forgiveness, he was also giving them a chance. They were free on that Friday to learn the gravity of what they had done, and repent of it. It is therefore wrong to seek death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev because it is a quest to eliminate a chance for a change of heart. I once heard it said that in prison a man either finds God or becomes a poet. I have also heard it said that to be Christian is to wish for our worst enemy to spend eternity with us in heaven. There is a chance that Dzhokhar, sentenced to a life behind bars, would find God. It is the duty of the Christian to hope and pray that he does.
As for the soul of Mr. Holder, consider for a second what he has actually claimed. “I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished,” said Mr. Holder as to why he was seeking the death penalty. For my part, I can’t either. But I also am not stupid enough to think that I am the universal distributor of justice. Any moral philosophy has to tell a man what to do between the time he gets out of his bed and the time he crawls back into it. Eric Holder, in seeking this sentence, has to crawl between his covers and say to himself, “Today, I decided to try and kill somebody.”
The Christian paradox is that we all deserve death yet we all receive mercy. For my part, I have done more evil than I can ever recount and have received more second chances that I can ever pay back. How can I, or anyone, think that Dzhokhar shouldn’t get a chance to repent? We can’t say that he will. But we can demand that he is given the chance. To believe in Christ is to hope when things seem hopeless. To be Christian is to forgive the sinner, even when he doesn’t want forgiveness. I also hope that Eric Holder will change his mind about seeking to kill this murderer. But I realize that I may be in a minority. Eric Holder is the Attorney General of the United States, and these United States may be a Christian nation, but we do not have a Christian government.
Comment by Desmond Sheen on January 31, 2014 at 11:26 am
The claim that the death penalty is un-christian is faulty. Just as one can be pro-life and a soldier in an army or act in self defense, so can the death penalty be allowed. True Christ forgave his killers, but dare I suggest it was the killing of the innocent that he asked pardon for? Was it perhaps to forgive the crime of decide and not the just punishment fro criminals?
You claimed that Dzhokhar should not be denied the choice, and the chance to repent. The fact is Dzhokhar does have a choice. He has one every minute until his death. He holds his salvation in his hands like all of us. He can repent at any time. The church fathers, Christ himself said fear not those who kill the body but who kill the soul. He alone can save his soul. The premature severing of his life’s cord is not upon the heads of his injectors, but upon him, just as the eternal salvation of the soldiers killed in battle is not on the heads of the one who pulls the trigger, but upon themselves. We are in a war upon evil.
What do you call a person who lies? A lier. What do you call a person who commits adultery? An adulterer. What do you call a person who kills innocent people? A murderer. The truth is we can judge people by their conduct. That in no way excludes the chance of forgiveness, nor does it change what they have done.
Justice is a cardinal virtue. That means it is accessible through reason and not instilled in us as the theological virtues. Justice is also blind. It judges solely upon the facts. What people did or did not do, and yes, takes into consideration circumstances. Nevertheless society, loosing it’s concepts of virtues though it is, still can and has to judge people based upon their acts. We see this in the righteous indignation that arises in our harts when we see a wrong. We also must realize that there are levels of severity in crimes. Certain crimes deserve more severe punishments. There is nothing illogical or unchristian about this concept. Society has the right to say there are some crimes so terrible so heinous that the punishment is death. Now society must be informed by natural law and reason to determine what those crimes are, but it has the right or duty to protect itself from such people, to deter others, and to the criminals themselves to meet out justice. We have forgotten this. The natural justice in us recognizes that there has to be restitution or consequences. To treat a serial killer like a white collar criminal is an affront to justice and the conscience. It sends the message that what they have done is not that bad. Thus it begins to devalue the gravity of the acts.
You said you cannot stand to see such evil go unpunished. Well someone has to step into that weighty role, not out of vengeance, pride, or arrogance, but to be the servant of justice. In your argument you stated that Mr. Holder had to crawl into bed and say he tried to kill someone. Well yes, that is true from one view. Consider this, an act has 3 parts the object, intent and circumstances. Holder’s object is neutral (or good if it is the furtherance of justice), his intent is to punish the guilty and meet out justice which is good, and the circumstances, well I will admit that I don’t know them. The intent in this act is not to kill someone. No that is a consequence. The intent is to do justice.
About the mercy of God, I have to clarify. It is always efficacious. There is never wasted mercy from God. But mercy requires repentance and acceptance of the mercy. We only receive mercy if we acknowledge out wrongs, seek to amend and change, and turn to God. Just look to the Sacrament of Confession. Forgiveness is a choice we can make, but it does not necessitate erasing the sin. Just look to purgatory. Are we forgiven. Yes. but we still have to bear the consequences. As christians we can and must forgive Dzhokhar, but that does not mean we cannot seek justice. As christians We have that duty.
Now do not think that I make light of the situation. The death of a person is a tragedy in every case, from the innocent unborn, to the elderly, to the terrorist and mass murderer. But the Christian’s prayer is one of forgiveness, and a prayer that the offender repent, not that he be spared suffering. Your view seems to oppose the execution of justice because we think it messy. To that I say Look to the Cross. That was justice at it’s height. Humanities offenses against the divine are infinite (any offense against the infinite is an infinite offense). The only way to justly bring humanity back and offer salvation was to have the infinite pay the price. Remember God is a god of Mercy, yes, (there is an argument why mercy is can only properly be exercised in the realm of the divine, as mercy requires repentance or it becomes an affront to justice) but he is also a God of Justice.