Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy

“To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” –Desmond Tutu

My mind is racing to so many places tonight. I just don’t know where solace can be found. I want so badly to write some great, insightful response to the travesty of justice that was the execution of Troy Davis. But all I have in my heart is sadness.

Tonight we all experienced what it is to be helpless in the face of overwhelming evil. We experienced bloodlust. We watched our country condone senseless murder when evidence of guilt was not truly present. Tonight a man died for a crime evidence shows he did not commit.

As a Christian Ethicist, I am outraged.

As a human, I am ashamed.

My friend Jessica put into words the feelings I cannot describe:

“Those who thirst for blood...for vengeance, NOT for justice and reconciliation...know that today, our arbitrary RACIST and CLASSIST ‘justice’ system has demonstrated a gross flex of power to take the life of a man against whom there is no solid evidence. Troy Davis, our hearts are with you. May the hearts and consciences of our country not rest easy with the blood thirst that rules our nation.”

Earlier today, a man named Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in Texas for the 1998 murder of an African-American man. It was a hate crime. Brewer was a white supremacist.

I firmly support the uproar over the wrongful execution of Troy Davis, but I also believe that as a Christian it is my duty to stand up for the wrongful death of Lawrence Brewer. Some would say that Brewer deserved to die for his crime. It was evil. It was disgusting. He dragged a man behind his truck until that man died simply because he was black. It is a lot easier to say that this man deserved his penalty.

But who are we to be the judges of who should live and who should die? Punishment, yes. There should be consequences to blatant evil in this world.

But death for death is wrong.

Tomorrow we will all wake up amidst the ashes of injustice. We will dust ourselves off and look around. The sun will rise. It may be bright, surrounded by the deep blue of a cloudless sky. But do not be fooled. We will be living in a darker world. We will be living in a world that repays murder with murder. This is not the Kingdom of Heaven. This is not the world that Jesus taught of, no matter what some pastors and religious leaders would direct you to believe. This is a world in which we pick and choose what parts of the Bible we want to follow. It is a dark place where a woman who likely killed her child can walk away and a man who likely killed no one can be executed. It is a world in which we call for the blood of others to wash away our own anger and hatred.

Do not be fooled. Injustice lies at our feet, like the treasures of some bloody conflict. Yet in this war we have won disgrace, and we have lost our souls.

Tonight as I bow my tear-stained face in silent but tormented prayer, I lift up the souls of Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer along with all of their predecessors. I pray that we may fight back against the unjust systems that have killed them. And I pray that we may be shown mercy for our own indifference and inaction.

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison.

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