Letters: Capital Punishment

GO TO TOPICS: Capital Punishment, Abortion

Capital punishment ‘not a Christian issue’

Roger Olson’s article on capital punishment  ignores reality and makes capital punishment a Christian issue, which it is not.

He cites an obscure case where an innocent man was convicted, then released years later. Let me cite a not so obscure case of Kenneth McDuff, a serial killer who kidnapped women, tortured and raped them before murdering them, right here in Texas. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. This was at the time when the Supreme Court ruled that the death sentences were discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.

Texas had no choice but to commute his sentence to life. The rest of the story is McDuff got out on parole and continued to murder women until caught again. This time he was arrested, tried and successfully executed.

Makes me wonder how Olson would feel if one of the women had been his granddaughter.

The alternative is life without parole at an average cost of $60,000 per year per inmate. Soon, we will have prisons dedicated to these life time inmates. Should we start taking up collections in church to fund these prisons?

Fred Rosenbaum

Gainesville

Education & birth control

What a wonderfully insightful and hopefully thought provoking article . I’ve always wondered if those who are pro-life participate in programs to support babies who are born to mothers who just cannot take care of their baby for one reason or another.

The only thing I would add is that we need to do more education about all kinds of birth control and provide it free for those with no insurance. Instead of shutting down Planned Parenthood clinics, we need more of them or some kind of clinics that provide only birth control and gynecological checkups free for women with no insurance or at low cost for those with limited income.

If we could improve these options, I think we’d be looking at fewer pregnancies and abortions. Education about and provision of free birth control is vital.

Dorothy Head

Fort Worth

‘Adopt’ a mother & child

I read “Get ready for all those babies” with interest, and I must admit it got me to thinking. 

What happens to all these babies we “save”? And I do believe it’s our Christian commitment to do so. God forbid that any child is aborted. But as you pointed out, when these babies grow up, where is our responsibility then? 

Our church is small, but why couldn’t we and others “adopt” a single mom and child? Why can’t we help nurture them in a stable environment. Give them a chance to an education so they become self-sufficient. 

But most of all, introduce them to the love of God.

If we can help change one life, what a difference we have made.

F.A. Taylor

Kempner

Churches can’t do it all

Awhile back some politicians were promoting the idea government shouldn’t help the poor; churches should do it. Several people studied how much the churches would have to contribute to do what the government does. They came up with various figures, depending on what they counted and where.

I took an easily obtained local figure—food stamp expenditure for Pottawatomie County, Okla., where I live and the number of churches, counted from a phone book. (Obviously I only included churches with phone listings. At the time, I knew of two congregations that were not listed, but their budgets may not have reached $17,000 total.) I calculated an average of over $17,000 per church per year would be required, just to replace food stamps. This would be added to things they already do—food pantries, free meals, support for Family Promise, etc. That doesn’t include any other aid—unemployment, utility and rent help, school lunches, etc.

Trying not to get political, but Oklahoma’s and Texas’ political leaders both oppose Medicaid expansion. And from what I read, the clinics to be closed provide other services for low-income women, like birth control, checkups, etc.  On the national level, the House of Representatives passed a farm bill without food stamps.

Should churches help? Yes. Most do. Can they do it all? Not with the present state of the economy. Politicians say people should work.  But where are the jobs?  The politicians sent them out of the country.

Pattisue Thoman

Shawnee