We have had our grandchildren over for the weekend, picking them up from school on Friday after school and dropping them back home Sunday afternoon. These are our twin boys, aged seven and very full on. On my last birthday they bought me a Journal where we could write things about us and about me. Over breakfast I was filling it in with one of the boys. Now like all children they pick up words and phrases from all sorts of places and can sometime use them inappropriately. One of those phrases is, ‘I hate that.’ We came upon a section in the Journal which was headed, ‘Likes and Dislikes,’ asking question about clothes, food and other activities.
The first section was sub-titled, ‘Grandad likes to… The next section had the sub-title of, ‘Grandad hates.’ And so, I wrote underneath ‘Grandad does not hate anything or anyone.’ Then changed the questions about things I dislike.
The word ‘hate’ has several
derivations in the Bible which occurs over 150 times. Hate is seen as a
negative emotion that goes against the teachings of love, forgiveness, and
reconciliation. Jesus Christ taught his followers in Matthew 5:44 to love their
enemies and bless those persecuting them. Furthermore, Paul also urged
believers to put away hate and bitterness Ephesians 4:31. He emphasizes the
need to let go of negative emotions and instead cultivate a spirit of love and
forgiveness. I John 2:9 also highlights that hate is incompatible with a life
of faith and is contrary to the teachings of Christianity. However, as you
would expect from a large corpus of material like the Bible, the story is more
complex and nuanced.
For example, Psalm 11.15, ‘The Lord examines the
righteous,
but the wicked, those who love violence,
he hates with a passion.’
Then from Isaiah, 1.14-15,
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.
It is well worth checking out verses 16-20 to find out
why as it offers a damning indictment on so much that as happened and continues
to happen amongst the People of God!
And unless you have been on a silent retreat on a deserted
island the hate and the bile being spewed out across the world is palpable.
I have been reading some of the Facebook threads concerning Christa Pike. I am pleased that most of the comments say how outdated and utterly abhorrent the death sentence is. However, one comment I read which I found disturbing simply said, after a rehearsal of the horrific crime Christa did, ‘she doesn’t deserve to be alive.’ That statement chills me to the bone.
Added to this we have had the early release of prisoners
in the UK raising the temperature on our judicial system. There are obvious and
legitimate concerns for people’s safety, especially if the harmer could gain
access to the harmed.
And all of this just before we have Prison’s Sunday (11th
October) leading into Prisons Week, 11th – 17th October.
Can we try and be as informed as we can be about our
prions. And can we have sensible conversations about the role and purpose of
prisons.
The death penalty is obviously about retribution and possible
revenge. The statistics demonstrate that it has never acted as deterrent. And
it most certainly isn’t about restorative justice.
Some make appeal to the dictum, an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth, see Exodus 24.1 & Matthew 5.8. Somewhat erroneously attributed
to Mahatma Gandhi, is the development on this code, “An eye for an eye makes
the whole world blind.”. (It is very much in the style of others sayings by Gandhi but
there’s no evidence that he ever said it.) Whether Gandhi said it or not, there is a truth in this idea of an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth would mean a world of full of the blind and toothless.
I remember as a child going
on holiday to a large house in St Anne’s, just down the road from Blackpool. A
large group of children from around Lancashire were taken there because they were
orphans or because of family situation’s being difficult. (I was there with my
two older brothers following the death of our father in a road traffic
accident) One day one of the other boys bit me on the arm. I was taken into a
room and received treatment. Then the ‘culprit’ was brought in and made to stand
in front of me and his shirt sleeve was rolled up. I was then told to bite him
back on the arm. I refused.
Brutal logic, like for like,
injury for injury. That is what some are saying about Christi Pike. She killed
another young girl in the most horrific of ways and therefore should pay the
ultimate penalty.
Interestingly it is the pharmaceutical
companies in America that have said that they will not produce the drugs used
to execute people. Therefore, there is a question over their effectiveness and
where they are getting them from. Now, some people are making ‘alternative’
suggestions.
Now I appreciate that I have
not had to endure the awfulness of having my own child brutally murdered. Although
the 9th October will be fourth anniversary of a 22-year-old family
member being murdered by someone weaponizing their car and driving into a group
of young people outside an all-night eatery. So, I have stood close enough to
know something of the pain and trauma of parents losing a child in this way.
Clearly our own prison
system in the UK is under enormous strain. The UK holds the highest
per-capita incarceration rate in Western Europe — at 136.2 prisoners per
100,000 people in England and Wales, compared to an EU average of 117, just 107
in France, and a mere 67 in Germany.
This is why we need to have
better conversations and find a better way forward. The answer cannot simply be
to build more prisons.
I do wonder sometimes if some people think this might be a good idea.
And amongst all the back and
forth on social media over the past few weeks has been this heartwarming story;
Rugby foodbank
Rugby Foodbank receives 90kg
food donation from HMP Rye Hill inmates
Last week, we received one
of the most incredible donations we've ever seen - over 90kg of food donated by
the inmates at HMP Rye Hill.
This donation is a powerful
reminder that kindness can come from the most unexpected places. This
demonstrates that people are far more than the mistakes they may have made in
the past. From everyone at Rugby Foodbank, thank you.
This is community. This is
hope. This is what kindness looks like.
