Saturday, March 3, 2012

Doing justice - to the text and to real human beings


Note:  I wrote this before the recent Koran-burning incident, and I want to preface this by saying that I don't want to offend anybody.  However, the incident recounted below has bothered me for several years, and I think the underlying principle is even more pertinent now.  TRUE JUSTICE DOES NOT PUNISH ONE INDIVIDUAL FOR ANOTHER PERSON'S CRIMES, whether that "justice" is  killing American officers or raping a Pakistani woman as retribution for acts they personally did not commit.

If you are offended by my words, I hope you respond with words and not violence!



On a practical level, if we spend too much time dealing with dissonance and ambivalence, we are paralyzed by doubt and indecision, and become less effective and less efficient.  It is possible to think too much.

Thus it's not an entirely bad thing to ignore or reject a statement that sounds too weird, wacky or just plain dumb.  It's hard get through our busy days without dissecting every advertisement, news sound byte,  op-ed article, and friends' conversations. 

Nevertheless, intellectual rigor, accurate textual interpretation and good critical thinking skills are especially important in the areas of religion and morality, because people are willing to lay down their lives, or to kill, for their religious beliefs.  Less dramatically, our beliefs influence our legal systems and corporate behavior; determine social norms; and guide or control our economic structures.  If we "get it wrong," there are long-lasting consequences for society and for the individual.

For instance, consider the debate over women's rights in the Muslim world.  In 2002, a Pakistan woman known as Mukhtar Mai or Mukhtar Bibi was gang-raped as punishment for her 12-year-old brother's alleged misconduct.  Village elders not only sanctioned this rape; they ordered it.  Mukhtar Bibi risked her life by reporting the rape and attempting to bring her attackers to justice, yet by 2011, Pakistan's Supreme Court had released all but one of the rapists.

Other, more moderate Muslims condemn the actions of the village elders and the rapists.  They do not believe that a woman should be raped, beaten, or imprisoned as the result of another person's actions, and that women have some, or even equal, rights.  Same religious texts, but different interpretations.

Similarly, in Christianity, there are horrific episodes throughout history, from the Crusades and the Inquisition to the Salem witch trials and beyond.  Millions have suffered as a result of religious texts interpreted in a manner generally be considered false today.

How can we prevent these injustices?  Only by humbly interrogating the text and questioning interpretations while extending grace to those around us.

(Journal, January 2012)



I read the Bible often
I try to read it right
As far as I can understand
It's nothing but a burning light ("Soul of a Man" as recorded by Bruce Cockburn)
Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful.-- C.S. Lewis

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. --Abraham Lincoln

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend. --Martin Luther King Jr.


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