Taking a page from Scripture’s 40 days in the desert, a consortium of faith groups, led by Jim Wallis’ Sojourners,  is promoting “Forty Days of Health Reform” as a political campaign stressing the moral necessity of enacting meaningful health care reform in America.  Will that campaign appeal to people of faith, or backfire in religious communities? And what do you think of the option for a public option?

Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

There’s an ongoing debate about the value of church-affiliated youth missions trips – for both the youth who make them and for the poor poverty-stricken populations they intend to help through volunteer service.  Are church missions trips, valuable as learning experiences and cultural exchange as they are, really worth the monetary costs?

Father Thomas Williams, St. John’s Orthodox Church

I can only speak for our diocese - The Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America. Clearly the answer would be yes. Let me explain.  The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America traces its roots in unbroken succession to first century Antioch, the city in which the followers of Christ were first called “Christians.”  Hence we are under the Omophorion (stole) of the Patriarch of Antioch. The number of Christians in Syria now is a little less than 10 percent of the population. Our sister diocese there with which we share  is Bosra Hauran, which is made up of many poor, war-torn areas in southwest Syria and its environs, including the Golan Heights.

This summer 18 teenagers and young adults from our churches in Texas spent two weeks in Damascus and the Houran region as guests of the archbishop there working on restoring Orthodox churches. These churches go back to the fifth and sixth centuries. They also worked on other church projects ongoing in Houran. Were they missionaries.  Not really, for they were in an area where the first bishop was one the the first seven deacons whose ordination is described in the Acts of the Apostles.  Antioch, Syria, was home to St. Peter and St. Paul for a time. The Christians there still speak Aramaic, and many live in an area called the Valley of the Nazarene. But it is a poor area and the Americans had come to help.

The great thing that came out of the two weeks was that Orthodox Christians in the  Houran diocese of Syria, who can trace their roots to the apostles, got to know Orthodox Christians from the United States who can trace their roots to Orthodox priests in Houston, Texas. When they worshipped together the Arab Christians said, “they pray like we do. We are brothers.” It was very moving for both groups. What the Americans brough home was priceless. What the Arab Christians gained was seeing how “their church” is embraced in America

Bill Bogard, Jewish
I won’t comment on the “monetary” cost-benefit ratio of Christian Missionaries.  That question is best left to the Christian community.
But as a non-Christian, I find the missionary efforts of any religion–if the goal is to convert others to their faith–morally objectionable.  Central to any attempt to convert another is the assumption that other faiths are evil,  those who hold that other view of G-d are bound for Hell (at least certainly not to  attain eternity with the Supreme), a statement that only the missionary’s faith is “complete,” and a supercilious form of religious Imperialism.
How would our good Christian supporters of missionary efforts feel if, say,  Saudi Arabia spent millions of dollars sending Muslim missionaries door to door in Rapid City to convince  the America Infidel that Islam is the only way to paradise, that Christians are evil, and the American constitution should be rejected in favor in Sharia law?  Why should I not feel equally antagonistic to the bright-eyed, idealistic,  juvenile Mormon missionaries who knock on my door to “show me the way” of Joseph Smith? I’m sick and tired of Christian arrogance, the assumption that Judaism is an incomplete religion and needs some sort of completion through Jesus Christ. Why should  not a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Jew, or even an agnostic not show similar animosity toward someone who denigrates his or her faith, the faith of their parents, and the whole cultural set of values?
Thus, let the evangelist help the “poor poverty-stricken” population of the world with the American dollar.  But if they really wish to relieve their physical suffering–which is real–don’t go as an arrogant Christian with the hidden agenda of saving his dark and blighted soul by alleviating their pain; rather, keep their religious views to themselves and help them as just another child of G-d, spiritually equal, and needing human help.  Aid others–that indeed is the spiritual way– but leave your proselytizing at home.

Dr. Nicholas Wallerstein–humanities and religion professor

I agree absolutely and unequivocally with Dr Bogard. Christians will defend their missionary and proselytizing endeavors by stating  that they must bring the “Good News” to non-Christians in order to save their souls, for there is no other way to God except through Jesus. They cite the Gospel of John, in which Jesus purportedly says “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” But as the great Bishop John Shelby Spong (perhaps the most learned Christian in the world) has pointed out, it’s doubtful that Jesus ever even spoke these words. To quote the good Bishop:

“[These words] appear in the Fourth Gospel, which was written 65-70 years after the death of Jesus. They are also part of a series of ‘I Am’ sayings, which appear nowhere except in John and are regarded by most biblical scholars today as the words of the Christian community that have been placed onto the lips of Jesus. They are clearly not the words of the Jesus of history. The scholars in the Jesus Seminar regard nothing in the Fourth Gospel, not a single one of the sayings attributed to Jesus in that gospel, to be the authentic words of the Jesus of history.”

To use these words from the Gospel of John, never even spoken by Jesus, as an excuse to harrass and intimidate non-Christians, and to threaten them with eternal damnation, is immoral and unjust.  Neither Jews nor Muslims nor Buddhists claim that their way is the only way to God. Even the Qur’an, for instance, explicitly states that there will always be room (and that there must be room) for God’s other faiths.

There are, indeed, many paths to wisdom, not just the Christian path. The only thing we know for sure is that, as poet/singer Leonard Cohen put it, each and every path to wisdom begins with a broken heart. Christian missionaries need to stop compounding the misery of the world and start to heal it through true love and true brotherhood and true compassion and true toleration. We have not yet  seen this.

Hazel Bonner - Seventh Day Adventist

I do not feel that Church group youth programs such as this are worth the cost or the trouble. There are so many worthy projects right in their own communities. Donate the money for such a trip to a worthy cause here, while

taking the time to work for that cause. There are many worthy causes at the mission, like the new Day Care program there, the assisted living homes, building a playground for them. I donate a lot of time at the mission and there is so much that needs to be done. I work primarily for a handicapped veteran whom I became acqauainted with there. He now has a broken ankle and needs someone to take meals to him as I am gone all weekend. As soon as I am done with my work here, I will have to go back there and care for him so he can stay off that ankle. Thank God the bus now runs on Saturday, and there is a bus stop right across the street from me. So I no longer have to walk a mile to the nearest bus stop. I will be doing that instead of going to my church today. I ask myself What Would Jesus Do and I hear him telling me I should go back to spend the weekend with my special friend that I met at the Mission. 

Any way enough of my praise for the Lord. The mission is not the only worthy cause here either. There are so many here and the youth pastors must know them, Donate to build a house for Habitat for a local family or go no further than the rez to donate.

My daughter attends the University of Wyoming and they do alternate spring breaks and special internships during the summer. She went to a homeless program in DC last spring and loved the experience. They had to actually spend the first four days being homeless and panhandling. They then donated the money to homeless shelters there and worked in those shelters. That was a great experience for them and also helped the homeless there, but not for the long term.

She did a tabling project this summer in North Yellowstone, but it was not volunteer and she earned her tuition for fist semester there.

So I am sure this would not have come up except the youth brought back the Swine Flu, the H1N1 virus. We also cannot be so afraid of that flu that we isolate ourselves. I am not even eligible for the vaccine as I am over 65, and currently in good health.

The death penalty — in the form of convicted murderer Briley Piper, is front and center in South Dakota again this week, as the Supreme Court of South Dakota overtuled the circuit judge who sentenced him to death. Both opponents and proponents of capital punishment offer biblical justification for their viewpoints. What’s yours?

Hazel Bonner — Seventh Day Adventist

Our hearts go out to Dottie Poage for the pain this re-sentencing must bring her. But Murder Victims for Reconciliation believe that forgiveness is essential to healing. And we know that our murdered children will always be held in the highest esteem, while the murderers are forever scorned by society - as it should be.

            The death penalty in South Dakota continues to grow as murders continue happening in this small state.  However on Thursday, July 29, the death sentence of Briley Piper was overturned by the South Dakota Supreme Court. The SD Supremes say he must be sentenced by a jury.

            Fourth Circuit Judge Warren Johnson sentenced Piper to death for the murder of Chester Allen Poage in Lawrence County in 2000. Piper, 19 at the time,  pleaded guilty and was sentenced by a judge, along with Elijah Page who was executed in 2007, after giving up all appeals. The third person involved, Darrel Hoadley, the only area resident, did not plead guilty and was convicted at trial and sentenced by a jury to life in prison, which in this state is life without parole.

            Piper, from Anchorage, Alaska, was appointed two attorneys, as happens in all death penalty cases in South Dakota. He claims they did not properly advise him that every juror would have to vote for death in order for him to face execution. He also was not informed of that by Johnson when he waived his right to not be sentenced by a jury. The SD Supremes agreed that he was not properly informed.  

            The Lawrence County States Attorney, John Fitzgerald, Jr. has notified Poage, mother of the victim. Fitzgerald and Poage have both started a campaign to give Piper death again at the sentencing by a jury.  The sentencing will perhaps take place here in Rapid City or may go on in Deadwood. Thus the pain of Poage’s death will remain with  Ms. Poage forever. She appeared to be happy with the execution of Page stating that justice worked at his execution. We should not execute adults, but educate our children about violence.

            Piper will remain in administrative segregation in the Jamison Annex at the Sioux Falls prison until he is sentenced by a jury.  Fitzgerald and Poage both still want him to be executed. Apparently said sentencing will take many months. While death Row in this state contains only three inmates with a fourth man hanging himself several years ago, it is a horrible life for those inmates.

            They remain in isolation every day, never getting to go outside, and never having contact visits with their family or friends, except by special request. According to the Administrative Segregation handbook, they get out of their cells only 45 minutes per week day to shower and exercise. Both Piper and Page are from out of state but people in Lawrence County, and his father, visited Page before his execution. His was the first execution in this state in over 60 years.

            This writer worked on death row in South Carolina during an internship the summer of 1993. Many people on death row there, most of them black, for killing white people, have already been executed. One inmate remains there for a murder he probably did not commit, Eddie Lee Elmore, has been on death row for decades for the murder of an elderly white woman. 

            Inmates there are not held like caged animals. They have contact visits and go outside for exercise. They are served meals together in a congregate dining hall. This writer had meals with the inmates there. If they create problems they are put in a lock down cell. This writer visited inmates there in their cells and sat and talked with the inmates during meals. They had a birthday party for this writer on August 22.

            As the Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Amnesty International (AI), this writer is seeking to find a way to end the total isolation of inmates on our death Row. While our hearts go out to Ms. Poage and know that this re-sentencing of Piper opens up those wounds again, this writer has watched the death penalty in this state over a period of at least 30 years.

            Attending the sentencing of Jason Star on July 27 and hearing his cry for help to the victims’ family reminded me of what happens to natives who kill white people in this state. Star pleaded guilty in the death of his girlfriend, Jody Ellis in February. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was so drunk he does not even remember killing her.

            Star has serious alcoholism problems and may die in prison. Another native man, Shannon Fast Horse was also sentenced to 45 years for killing his white girlfriend in Hot Springs.  He too was intoxicated at the time. Both had prior protection orders issued against them by the victim. But protection orders are not mutual.   

            In spite of many murders of natives, this writer does not recall the death penalty ever being sought in those killings. This writer attended the March for Justice from Pine Ridge to White Clay Nebraska last month. Tom Poor Bear was seeking justice for Wilson Black Elk, Jr. and Ron Heard heart, his relatives. Since we are all related we are all relatives of these two murdered men. The deaths of these two natives have not even been solved. Many murders of Indians remain unsolved there and here.

            Many natives here have been murdered in horrible torture type killings, but the death penalty has not been sought. Their killers receive short sentences – 51 months in a recent killing of two natives in federal court.  Does the death of a native mean less than the death of a white person?  We do not think so. AI opposes the death penalty under any circumstances, especially since most executed persons have killed whites and most are brown skinned.  We acknowledge every human life and mourn for the victims’ loved ones. But the executions cannot be carried out in our name.  

            In some instances the killing of a native is written off as self Defense.

            If the death penalty kept the residents of our state safer, then there would be some small reason for it, but it does not. Neighboring North Dakota does not have a death penalty but is one of the five safest states in the nation. South Dakota does, but ranks far down in the list for safety of our citizens. In fact all five of the safest states do not have the death penalty – that says something about deterrence of murders in states with the death penalty, doesn’t it?

            In the meantime many natives are victims of our society and when they are murdered, or commit suicide in a treatment facility; their deaths do not lead to the execution of their killers.

                        .    

Rev. Brian Carpenter — Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis
Reformed theology, which is the branch of theology to which I and my denomination adhere, is also known as “Covenant Theology.” This is because we believe that God interacts with human beings based on the model of a covenant, or agreement, which binds both parties. We believe there are two main, overarching covenants that govern our dealings with God as human beings, The Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. We believe that there are several smaller covenants that fit within the framework of those two main covenants. These covenants cannot simply be forgotten or done away with. They can be fulfilled and subsumed by another, greater covenant, but they don’t just go away.

One of those smaller covenants is called the Noahic Covenant. This was the sovereign covenant that God made with Noah and all mankind through him. We find it in Genesis 8 and 9. The Noahic Covenant has not been subsumed or fulfilled by later covenants. It is a covenant that lasts as long as the earth itself lasts. Its instructions are binding upon all men everywhere for all time. The relevant part for today’s discussion is found in Genesis 9:6, and reads as follows,

“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God”
has God made man.”

In other words, the Bible mandates the death penalty for murder. Jesus never abrogated that during his earthly ministry, and his designated and authorized spokesmen, the Apostles, never did either. In fact, Paul upholds the right of the magistrate as “one who bears the sword” in Romans 13:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities”

I want to suggest that the sword represents a divine warrant for an authorized agent of the state to use lethal force for the punishment of wrongdoers.

I do not think that those who try and use the Bible to justify an anti-capital punishment stance have a leg to stand on. They either revert to so-called extrabiblical “revelations” or descend into a gauzy haze of muddle-headed thinking that goes something like, “Jesus was nice and capital punishment isn’t nice, therefore Jesus wouldn’t like capital punishment.” The only trouble with that sort of argument is that no true Christian of any stripe could entertain it for very long, for it does violence to one of the foundational articles of the Christian faith. Namely the article concerning the eternal pre-existence of Christ as the Word, or Logos, who was fully present and in agreement when God the Father decreed the Noahic Covenant, and who himself will come again in glory to punish His enemies with an everlasting “death penalty.” (Rev. 19:11-21, 20:7-15)

Finally, to those who blather about the deterrent effect (or lack thereof) concerning the death penalty, I have two observations:

1. If it were speedily and evenly applied, I guarantee that the murder rate would go down. As it is, a man can die of old age in prison before the State finally gets around to executing him.

2. Having said that, I don’t support the death penalty because of any deterrent effect, real or imagined. I support it because God requires it. When we departed from the model of jurisprudence that took for granted that crimes deserved a measured and proportional punishment and embraced instead a model which claims that crime is an illness and needs treatment, and any treatment applied must justify its usage by showing measurable effects, then we lost something very important. We ripped the criminal justice system out of the hands of ordinary men and women and placed it in the hands of self-appointed specialists. What punishment someone deserves for a bad act is something any thinking man or woman can have an opinion on. What is most likely to rehabilitate someone from an inward sickness is something that only an “expert” can claim knowledge of.

Ask yourself, is society better or worse since the “experts” took over?

Father Thomas Williams, St. John’s Orthodox Church