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In my mid-sixties now, the radical divide between vengeful "Christians" and forgiving Christians is ever clearer. ![]()
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Caril Ann Fugate following her arrest in 1958 at age 14.
Alan: I recently watched Terrence Malick's "Badlands," a movie based on the 1959 Starkweather-Fugate murder spree. (Roger Ebert considers "Badlands" a "Great Movie." http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110624/REVIEWS08/110629987/1023)
Not only are vengeful "Christians" dangerous to The Body Politic but in unique ways they are dangerous to themselves, convinced that retaliation is the best guarantee of salvation.
Vindictive "Christians" (and a thriving subset of "Armageddon Cheerleaders") live in cages of their own making, beset by spiteful beliefs, as confident of their own personal salvation as they are sure that others (many of whom they can name) are destined for eternal damnation. (Barack HUSSEIN Obama figures high on this list.)
It is difficult to imagine that many of these bilious people will escape the extraordinarily seductive traps they have set themselves.
I hope the following article creates enough cognitive dissonance to rupture the crippling certainties that afflict these "good Christians," convictions that make others miserable too.
Charles Starkweather
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June 12, 2012
The Des Moines Register this week detailed the story of Caril Ann Fugate, a 14-year-old girl whose 18-year-old boyfriend involved her in a sensationalized series of crimes in Nebraska in 1958. Despite being sentenced to life in prison, Caril became a model prisoner and her sentence was commuted. She was released after serving 18 years, worked as a medical aide, has never run afoul of the law, and is now a married retiree.
Caril Fugate in 1972.
Caril Fugate's story of rehabilitation and redemption demonstrates children's enormous potential for growth and change. In abolishing the death penalty for children, the United States Supreme Court observed in Roper v. Simmons that, because children are still developing, "it is less supportable to conclude that even a heinous crime committed by a juvenile is evidence of irretrievably depraved character.” The Court struck down life-without-parole sentences for children convicted of nonhomicide offenses in 2010.
In two cases now pending before the Supreme Court, Jackson v. Hobbs and Miller v. Alabama, EJI is arguing that sentencing a child to life imprisonment without parole is unconstitutional because children are not yet developed and have a greater capacity for reform. Because children will change as they grow up, and almost all will grow out of criminal behavior, EJI argues that sentencers cannot reliably make a judgment at the outset that a young offender is never fit to reenter society.
The Supreme Court will decide Miller and Jackson within the next few weeks.