The Cincinnati Enquirer |
Editorial Page
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Wednesday, January 14, 1998 |
| This is a reply to the Rev. Thomas E Sagendorf's
letter to the editor "Ohio has no right to execute prisoners" [Jan. 5].
The governor and attorney general of Ohio are just carrying out the wishes of the majority of Ohio voters. The state is not acting in a God-like manner, deciding who is worthy to live or die. That decision was made by the individual, as he chose to commit the felonious act that ultimately put him on death row. As a Christian, tax-paying citizen, I feel it's outrageously expensive and wrenching to the social fabric to keep him alive in prison for the rest of his life. That is why when it is tried, sooner or later he gets released and is back out on the street and in trouble again. The statement, "the death penalty has nothing to do with reducing crime," is itself the real lie. How many times have you read about a recently released criminal striking again? |
If that criminal hadn't been released, would
that crime have happened? No. That in itself would have reduced crime.
Multiply that by hundreds, even thousands, and you reduce crime substantially.
I do not believe that a life in prison is any more Christian than the death penalty. Our society is too forgiving, since it is killing off its law-abiding citizens by releasing these criminals to strike again. If we keep it up, soon there won't be anyone but criminals alive outside of the prisons. Society must realize that there are some who do not want to live a Christian, law-abiding, civilized life. That fact does not keep the Christian community from praying for them. Ralph T. Wainscott
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