ironlordthemad said:
HyenaThePirate said:
ironlordthemad said:
he should be put to death, but the bible should have been no where near that trial in any way, religion and the law should not mix, ever
Again, how would you accomplish this?
You can remove the Bible from the room, but can you remove it's message from the minds and hearts of the people that believe in it.
It is impossible to have a "jury" and remove "religion" from the situation. All you would be doing is removing any VISUAL SIGNS of religion.
Unless you remove people who believe in a religion from the process, which is exclusionary AND just as unconstitutional.
well remove any religious paraphenalia from the room for a start, that way any of the juror's religious based concepts would be at the back of their mind, no one is going to see a table and think "that reminds me of that passage in the bible..."
but i think thats more likely to happen if they look at a bible
then its just keeping their minds away from religion, besides they will be thinking of how to deal with a man's fate, they shouldn't be thinking WWJD, just focusing on the facts in front of them as laid out in the court
Really?
You really honestly believe that by not having a BIBLE present that any Christians going into the deliberating room will suddenly forget the fact that they are CHRISTIANS, their FAITH, their TENANTS, and the source/foundation of their MORALITY, simply because they cannot SEE a bible?
Thats patently absurd.
On a daily basis I am reminded of my own personal beliefs. When a sports star scores a goal and makes the sign of the cross or when someone accepts an award and thanks "God", do you think it's because they have a Bible in their pocket? When a person is praying for the recovery of an injured loved one or calling upon their God to help them through a situation, do you think they have Bibles present?
Again what you are talking about smacks of essentially establishing a BAN on independent thought and individual morality. As a matter of fact, for a Christian, you SHOULD be thinking of WWJD. Hell for that matter, I'm betting half the criminals facing a death sentence would be HOPING that the people deciding his fate would be asking "What Would Jesus Do" because I think we can all agree that JESUS would FORGIVE and Let the person GO.
At any rate, the Bible's appearance at this particular court case had little to no BEARING on the ultimate outcome of the trial... the argument is simply semantic. The evidence and the FACTS all pointed to a guilty verdict... he entered a man's home, and when the man tried to defend himself and his property he BLUDGEONED the man to DEATH.
You don't need a Bible to find "guilty" in a case like that. You would only need a Bible to find a reason to say "not guilty" as a morality check, since once again most average people (while perhaps supporting a death penalty) are not all that eager to be the ones to directly send a man to his death.
Christian faith does not turn off and on based on the presence of a BOOK. The "book" is just a guideline. The Faith is in the hearts and minds. Would you also have them remove any crucifix necklaces, jewelry and cut off any religious-faith illustrating tattoos, etc? Because ALL of those have the same effect of the bible... you don't need to quote SCRIPTURE just to follow it. Thats already implanted deep in the mind and soul of the practitioner of their religion and they will use that moral compass at any given time in any given situation that they feel the need, with or without a physical representation of their particular faith on hand.
