Protestantism

» jlthomp - Re: On my soap box this morning...

In response to On my soap box this morning... posted by Migisi:
Migisi, where do you get your soapboxes? Mine wear out too quickly, what with all that Bible-thumping.

I agree that members of narrow interest and advocacy groups(aka, religious types) are often suckers, buying into anything that tickles their ears. Witness the PC advocates.You said, If ~you~ think that lowly of yourself, then yes, you're no different than they are.

Ouch! That smarted. And it would have smarted even worse if you had read what I wrote correctly. Please notice, I wrote better, not different, than they. A difference isn't necessarily better or worse than something else.

Maybe it's the residual liberal lurking within(say that ten-times fast), but I refuse to see an ideology, a moral code, a religion or anything else "put on" over our fundamental humanity, as something that makes me "better" than anyone else. If I'm more civilized, humane, loving or merciful than another, that's a wonderful thing. But a human is just a human, fundamentally no better or worse than any other human.

Please don't think such an egalitarian world view would persuade me to give a criminal the same rights as a law-abiding citizen. A hard-case might have hundreds of circumstances in his background that caused him to flout civilization's standards, but that doesn't exempt him from reaping what he's sown. And remember, new technologies are showing that many criminals who were legally convicted, were wrongly convicted.

I wonder how many accused murderers have died, or spent the bulk of their lives in prison, because of a miscarriage of justice. That's why I refuse to presume judgment over anyone, regardless their alleged crimes. If I were sitting on a jury, that would be my solemn duty, but thank God that doesn't happen often.

By the way, Migisi, thanks for taking the time to respond to my missives. I love the exchange.

-- posted by jlthomp