Hostages and executions

Hostages and executions
Today we are waiting to see what happens to the four Christian Peacemaker Teams workers who were taken hostage in Iraq. Their captors said they would kill them yesterday if thousands of Iraqis were not release from prison. There has been no word since the deadline passed. An outpouring of support from Muslim clerics and many others around the world for these peace activists is wonderful to see. Their good work in Iraq and other places is well known. Still, we wait.

At the same time we are waiting to see whether Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will allow the death sentence on Stanley “Tookie” Williams to be carried out. His is the last word. There has been an outpouring of support for clemency in this case. Questions linger about the propriety of this conviction for crimes Williams still denies committing, and his good anti-gang work from death row has caught the attention of many.

These cases are completely different in one way, but in others they are the same. An elected government is deciding whether to execute Williams, while a self-appointed militia is deciding the fate of the peacemakers in Iraq. Each has the power to execute, however that power was gained, and in both cases the choice is both arbitrary and political. The persons wielding the power of life and death will put a lot of thought into how their choice will affect themselves and those close to them. If the governor decides to let the sentence be carried out and riots erupt, how will that affect his political future? If he decides to commute the sentence and his conservative base deserts him, what happens then? In Iraq the hostage takers need to weigh how difficult it will be to survive if they carry out the execution. Will they be hunted down by all factions? Would they be better off bowing to the clear will of Sunni and Shia leaders and accepting that these peacemakers deserve to live?

The choice in either case is political, not about law. Is it any wonder that many in the world have trouble telling the difference between the actions of Islamist extremists and the American government? Both kill many innocent people in the name of their cause in an effort to serve their interests. Both execute wrongdoers. Both claim high moral values. Both claim to be in the right. Both believe the other to be in league with Satan.

Jesus suggested that we not try to take the splinter out of another’s eye until we have removed the log from our own. Scottish poet Robert Burns put it this way: “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An' foolish notion.” The more energy we put into seeing ourselves as others see us, the better able we will be to make the changes in our own behavior that encourage others to make changes as well.