MWR : Being the leaven

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Sept. 28, 2009 issue

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Tags: News Death penalty

Being the leaven

Death penalty foe tells Bethel College students they can make a difference

By Melanie Zuercher Bethel College

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NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Sister Helen Prejean got a rare standing ovation from the convocation audience at Bethel College Sept. 21.

Prejean

Maybe that was because the longtime anti-death penalty advocate spoke directly to her listeners, mostly students.

“Young people, do you know how strong your voice is?” Prejean said. “Do you know your power? I’ve met a lot of politicians over the years, and almost all of them want young people to like them.”

Students who think they can’t make a difference don’t understand Jesus’ parable about the leaven in Matthew 13, she said. She offered the example of the Innocence Project, through which student researchers have discovered evidence that has exonerated people wrongly convicted of crimes, including a number on death row.

The Peace Committee at Eden Mennonite Church of Moundridge brought Prejean to south central Kansas as the special speaker for the church’s Sept. 20 service. Prejean included Bethel in her itinerary because she wanted to encourage the Bethel community to become involved in the Kansas Coalition against the Death Penalty.

Before she gave her convocation presentation, Prejean sat down with the Nonviolence Theory and Practice class taught by Brett Dewey, professor of Bible and religion. Another visitor to the class was Kansas state representative Carolyn McGinn, whose district includes Harvey County.

The death penalty has become a live issue again in Kansas thanks to McGinn, who introduced a bill in the last legislative session to outlaw the state’s death penalty due to its steep cost in a time of budget cuts and deficits.

While there are 11 people on Kansas’ death row, no one has been executed in the state since 1965. According to McGinn’s data, the estimated median cost of a death penalty case is about 70 percent higher than a non-death penalty case.

“People say, ‘This is a moral issue — it shouldn’t be about money,’ ” Prejean told the class. “But money is a moral issue.”

Prejean’s 1993 book Dead Man Walking describes her experience with two Louisiana men through their executions (she has since accompanied four more) as well as her growing understanding of how victims’ families suffer long after the loss of their loved ones. The book was made into a movie in 1995, which in turn spawned the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project, through which Bethel performed the play in 2006.

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Comments

Sure, young people have a VOICE as long as they are permitted to be a STUDENT... what about the rest of the world? What about the other 80% of human beings inside the United States who are not ALLOWED to go to school? (Only about 20% ever get the opportunity here) This has something to do with why so many people end up in prison in the first place, because you can't raise a family (or even HAVE one) on minimum wage. I just wish there were less SPEECHES, meetings & articles and some ACTUAL ACTIVE COMMUNITY going on SOMEWHERE... I have been all over the USA, Canada & Europe looking for it but PREJUDICE keeps the order exactly as it is. So now what do I do with this knowledge, being that I have no power to act on anything OR EVEN BE HEARD???

- Invisible Refugee (sep 25 at 11:44 p.m.)
Invisible Refugee, I sense your feelings. But I don't understand your percentages. ". . . 80% of human beings inside the United States who are not ALLOWED to go to school?" What is your source? In most of the states there is compulsory attendance until maybe age 16. I agree one cannot raise a family on the minimum wage, let alone one able to afford health insurance living alone.

Our prisons are crowded with minorities.

- Les (sep 26 at 1:00 p.m.)
There are several issues in this article I choose to address.

First, the death penalty was implemented in the Old Testament by God, who is righteous and holy, therefore, what God has designed for governments to address lawlessness does not violate any scripture. Jesus was innocent of the death penalty, yet no protest was expressed by Him although He had opportunity. At the last moment, He could have freed the unrepentant thief from the cross and then also healed him of all wounds. It is quite likely the unrepentant thief was also poor and powerless. While Jesus was on this earth, not once do we have any record that He protested the cruel death penalty of hanging on the cross.

Secondly, in her book The Death of Innocents (2005), does Ms Prejean express any concern for 50 million innocent babies who have been killed in the womb and the thousands who are currently on death row, soon to be executed? Are they not also poor and powerless, having no lawyer to defend them or law enforcement to protect them?

I find it troubling that certain religious people strongly oppose the death penalty, yet are noticeably quiet when it comes to addressing the Biblical sin of terrorist killing of innocent, living, poor and powerless babies in the womb, many who are non-white. BTW, does that mean those who murder non-white babies are racists?

At least the prisoners currently on death row have opportunity acknowledge their sinful past and proceed to get their relationship with God resolved if someone presents the gospel to them. If MC USA is concerned about those living on death row, I would suggest they iniate a prison ministry program to introduce Jesus who is ready to save them from their sins, give them peace of heart and assure them of salvation that will enter their name in the Book of Life and keep it there for Jesus to refer to.

I am involved as a grader with a Bible correspondence program with a prison ministry. We do not protest the death penalty but do promote eternal life in heaven for all who make that choice through Jesus who had victory over death and the grave.

- A. Dale Welty (oct 4 at 10:19 p.m.)
Dale, if you are a grader of a Bible correspondence course, you should also know that there are many local prison ministries. And is not the local contact better than a centralized office? And many of us are protesting abortion. It is like protesting alcohol consumption. I have done that all my life, but I do not see a drop in alcohol consumption. (Something you have not written about, but cause thousands of lives.) It takes more than protests!! It is an individual decision and the best way to have individual Christ-like decisions is to nurture Christians. Abortion is nearly as prevalent among "Christians" as non-Christians. It is impossible for visitors to bring Bibles into prisons in many states. They can be sent in and inspected.

Jesus never commanded the death penalty. You are fixated on the Old Testament. Do you observe the feasts and stoneings that were commanded in the O.T? If not, why do you cherry pick what you want to?

- Les (oct 5 at 9:19 a.m.)
When I wrote the word "school", it was a reference to COLLEGE or UNIVERSITY. The free school system up through high school tends to be a joke much of the time, and really amounts to nothing anyway. Of course, then there are the reports I hear from so many college grads that college didn't really help them find better wages, either... (I'm not so sure I believe that, since people who attend college or have attended college get treated much differently than those who don't)

- Invisible Refugee (nov 19 at 11:17 p.m.)
"Minorities" are not the only people in prisons - maybe they are the only people RECOGNIZED to be in prisons... so then, which group would be more invisible - the recognized "minoritIES" or the ones who are there and don't get counted because they are the minority not fitting the "minority" category? What if someone is a minority within the minority just for not being a recognized minority? It's a terrible thing to be imprisoned AND not be allowed to have an identity. Recognized "minorities" have a group to belong to and draw strength from - people who don't fall into the right category don't have that. It's a doublewhammy. Just another point to ponder. We needs to be helping us all... It's irritating not to count. That's my point.

- Invisible Refugee (nov 19 at 11:34 p.m.)

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