The first and only time I heard evangelical mega-figure Pat Robertson speak in public, he wasn't calling for the legalization of pot.
I was 21, a junior at Oral Roberts University, playing endless rounds of "Pomp and Circumstance" on my viola with the school orchestra. Robertson was present to give the commencement address to that year's graduates. I can't remember what he exhorted them to do, but I'm positive it didn't involve toking up.
Robertson still isn't spreading that message, but his recent comments about legalizing pot, the cruelty and irrationality of mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug crimes, and the expensive and failed War on Drugs are refreshing. Our harsh mandatory prison terms for drug offenses are incompatible with Christian principles of justice. This conviction -- and the faith I and Robertson share -- drove me first to law school and then to Washington, D.C. to work on criminal sentencing reform for Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), a secular organization. I join Robertson in posing a question all evangelicals should be striving to answer:
How would Jesus want us to punish?
Most Christians would start with Exodus 21's command that "an eye for an eye" is the right approach. Sadly, this verse has been cited to justify heartless vengeance in our criminal laws: "do the crime, do the time." The verse isn't a license to punish, but a limitation on punishment: the time must fit the crime and not be excessive. Giving either less or more punishment than the crime or the offender deserves is an injustice. The Proverbs repeatedly describe God's hatred of unfairly loaded measuring scales. Those scales include the scales of justice used in our courthouses.
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws weight those scales unjustly. They require one-size-fits-all sentences for all offenders who commit a certain crime. They forbid judges from considering unique or exceptional facts or circumstances about the offense or the offender. These sentences apply to many nonviolent drug offenses. More than half of our federal prison population is serving time for drugs; in state prisons, it's about one in five prisoners. Lengthy mandatory sentences have made our supposedly Christian nation the world's leading jailer, with 2.3 million imprisoned.
Jesus turned the "eye for an eye" concept on its head in Matthew 5, when he said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also." Anyone can hit back, but it takes real Christian love to show compassion to criminals -- in Jesus' words, to love our law-breaking neighbors as ourselves and to treat them as we would like to be treated. It would be turning the other cheek to give many nonviolent offenders the help they really need, like drug and mental health treatment that is supervised by accountability courts. These cost-effective programs keep offenders connected to families and communities and consistently produce stories of transformed lives. But mandatory minimums don't let judges choose these non-prison alternatives.
Our lawmakers are to blame. Too many Christian legislators wear their faith like a badge of honor and proclaim a belief in redemption and forgiveness, but vote for more mandatory minimum prison sentences in election years. These lawmakers would do well to remember James 2:17: "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:13 is another good reminder. That verse tells believers to show others the same mercy they've received: "Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.")
The Book of James also teaches that a true mark of our faith is caring for widows and orphans. Every time we lock up a breadwinner, we create a widow. Every time we incarcerate a parent, we create an orphan. The Christian organization Prison Fellowship does wonders in recruiting the faithful to care for prisoners and their families, but it also urges legislators to reform the laws that are at the root of the problem. Both prison ministry and sentencing reform advocacy are essential. Christians should support reforming mandatory sentencing laws that perpetuate an over-reliance on prisons and fail to deliver the compassion, services and opportunities for redemption that prisoners and their families need.
More leaders like Robertson should tell Congress to remove the thumb of mandatory minimum sentences from our scales of justice. Our judges need flexibility and discretion to require an eye for an eye -- nothing less and nothing more. They also need more compassionate, redemptive -- I daresay Christian -- sentencing options that treat offenders like the valuable children of God we all are.
Molly M. Gill is the Director of Special Projects for FAMM. The views expressed in this piece are her own.
Richard Branson: America Needs to Open Up the Debate on Decriminalization
Mandatory sentencing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mandatory Minimums - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mandatory Minimums | StoptheDrugWar.org
ACLU Advocates For Abolition Of Mandatory Minimums Before U.S. ...
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1090
The ancient Greek historian Ephorus wrote in the fourth century BC that the Scythians 'feed on mares milk and excel all men in justice'. His comments were followed in the first century BC by Strabo, who wrote that 'we regard the Scythians as the most just of men and the least prone to mischief, Like the Scythian shamans, the Thracians used cannabis in a similar manner.
The Scythians High Plains Drifters
http://www.cannabisculture.com/backissues/jul95/scythians.html
Heston died, NRA's Mandatory Minimum Didn't
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1704
'Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible'
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/362/39-Relax-Your-Muscles-as-Much-as-Possible-39
Life in Jail for Ganja
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1702
Koch Roaches A.L.E.C. Drug Detention Centers
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1705
Christian Extremism and Terrorism In History - 03/04/11 23:52:07
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1681/Christian-Extremism-and-Terrorism-In-History
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1569
In the begining, God created all seed producing plants, and they were good. The law reconized their goodness, and made them illegal. After Adam ate the apple, he offered incense to the Lord to try and appease him. Moses met GOD in clouds of smoke, it reeked of incense, and the Almighty was aflame. The herb was no doubt at the table of Jesus, and the wine he created was and is more harmful than hemp. Mohammed ate hash and spoke with GOD. The ancient Incas called it "that which makes us speak" and, when drug tested, T.H.C. was found in Pharoe's system. Hemp is not GOD, it is his gift, and it inspires thought, prayer, and medition. Thought is dangerous, and thus, hemp is illegal.
Hemp Throughout Holy Texts
http://www.geocities.com/happy_hempster/phil/refrences.htm
The word cannabis was generally thought to be of Scythian origin, but Benet showed that it has a much earlier origin in Semitic languages like Hebrew, and that it appears several times throughout the Old Testament. Benet explained that "in the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament there are references to hemp, both as incense, which was an integral part of religious celebration, and as an intoxicant.
Kaneh Bosm: Cannabis in the Old Testament
http://www.hempbc.com/magazine/mayjune96/kanehbosm.html
Jesus' punishment? None I would think. He always deferred to what his Father said as was written down in the scrolls. As in the case of Judas, Jesus gave him enough rope and he hung himself.
Smoking is defilement of the body and just in that light alone, anyone who supports God's viewpoint should never endorse the legalizing of marijuana. How do you stand up in front of God and explain that stance?
Mark 11:12-14
12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: 13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. 14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
All drugs are now legal. In order to buy and use drugs you need a gov't. issued card which costs $125/yearly. Now that drugs are legal those that are incarcerated for "possession only" are immediately released from their confinement. Those jailed for "sales cases" they can buy their freedom for $16,000. This is payable to the state from which they came. The DEA is now disbanded and those agents are re-assigned. Now that the jails are cleared out , now the "real criminals" can be jailed. The rapists, murderers and pedophiles now do their "whole bit" no more overcrowded jails.. The Mexicans who are running ALL the illegal drugs now, will have to go south as they have discovered they cannot compete w/the U.S. Gov't. w/the $ we could then fix those who are broke.
The Hype: Brain Damage in Dead Monkeys
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/625/
Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974.
In 1974, California Governor Ronald Reagan was asked about decriminalizing marijuana. After producing the Heath/Tulane University study, the so-called "Great Communicator" told the national press, "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana." (L.A. Times.)
The facts: Suffocation of Research Animals
The Heath "Voodoo" Research methodology: Rhesus monkeys were strapped into a chair and then strapped into gas masks and given the equivalent of 63 Colombian strength joints in "five minutes, thru the gas masks" losing no smoke. The monkeys were suffocating!
Cannabis Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/588
The ominous part is that this isn't the first time scientists have discovered that THC shrinks tumors. In 1974 researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer. The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further cannabis/tumor research.
Cover-Ups, Prevarication's, Subversions & Sabotage
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1653
Leary overturned the Marihuana Tax Act.
Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6 (1969)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leary_v._United_States
By helping them heal.
All too often 'justice' is more like revenge. In this our legal system fails many.
Yep., sounds very Christian.