Tonight the DC sniper, John Allen Muhammad, was put to death.
And here, unfortunately, is where I break ranks with the vast majority of my conservative brethren. I do not believe in the death penalty.
I understand the desire for it, the need for some people to find closure in it, I understand the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mentality; I understand that many believe those who take the lives of others forfeit their own lives when they do so.
However, the only thing I can say, myself, is that the taking of a human life is strictly God’s business. The only exception is war, and even war is suspect — as a great man once said, “It is good that war is so terrible, else man should grow to love it too much.”
It’s not as simple as “two wrongs don’t make a right”, although I also feel that is the case. It is the fact that I believe that killing a person in the name of justice is not right. “Vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord, and I believe that to be the case.
I often waver on this subject, and I certainly understand and respect those who support the death penalty, and I do not seek to change their minds. I only seek to make known that I do not support the death penalty, for the simple fact that I think that it is not the business of one human to take another human’s life. Again, the exception is war, and war is a terrible business.
Do not take me to task for what you may perceive as a weakness in my conservative armor, please. It is a personal subject for me and I simply reiterate: It is God’s business, not man’s, to take life. I understand that Muhammad took on the role of God himself, as I am saying, when he took other people’s lives. Still, this does not justify taking his life.
However, for those of you who do support the death penalty, I hope tonight’s execution gave you some sort of sense of closure, of justice being served.
It did not for me.