The Troy Davis case in Georgia’s long and complicated approach to death penalty cases has what seems like the whole world talking. Nothing about the case seems to be all that unusual, there are those who believe Davis actually killed the police officer and ought to be executed, and those who believe that the evidence is too shaky for such a judgment and because of that, the state took the risk of executing the wrong person. Davis claimed his innocence until the very end; while the US Supreme Court, the Georgia Supreme Court, and the State Board of Pardons refused to intervene and stop the execution.
The family of Troy Davis worked tirelessly to get the conviction overturned, or at least a new trial or evidentiary hearing. There actually was an evidentiary hearing in June 2010, but the courts upheld the conviction. The family of Officer Mark McPhail was adamant that Davis killed McPhail and seemed at least relieved, if not celebratory, when the execution finally was carried out.
There are no winners in this story. Officer McPhail left behind a wife and two small children. The execution of Davis brought to an end a life that included multiple encounters with law officials, dropping out of high school, poor work performance, a nick name “Rah” which stood for “Rough as Hell,” and being accused of shooting one other person that night, assaulting a homeless man, and murdering McPhail.
McPhail was murdered in 1991, Davis executed in 2011. Whatever else one might think about the death penalty, it can hardly be argued that the execution of Davis was a deterrent to murder. One might suggest that at least Davis would never murder again, but then his chances of getting out of jail were so negligible that he would have never murdered again anyway. While I don’t know the exact details of the cost of the execution, his twenty years on death row, and the multiple trips before the courts – the state of Georgia would hardly have spent more on a life sentence than it did in executing him. Just from the crass world of “what did it cost?” the whole thing makes little sense.
But for believers, there is a more serious issue at stake – how should a follower of Jesus view such actions of the state? Of course second year seminary students who know everything are quick to suggest that there is an answer. Depending on the social justice views of the seminary, it is either horribly wrong or exactly what God created government to do. Forget the fact that from the early church fathers to the present, pretty bright and capable biblical scholars have viewed the subject differently.
Perhaps one lesson to be learned from all of this is that these issues are complicated and while each of us may have absolute conclusions about such complicated questions, we should be careful in assuming that complicated questions have such easy answers.
Paul’s comments about government in Romans 13 are often brought into the discussion. Government is put here by God to bear the sword – protecting the innocent and punish the guilty. Believers are to respect the position of government, pay taxes, and try to stay under the radar of governing officials. What Paul doesn’t mention is what the role of believers in government should be. Again, we are confronted with an issue about which believers have not always seen eye to eye.
Obviously you won’t get the final word on these kinds of issues by reading what I write. Listening to McPhail’s aged mother you couldn’t help but feel the hurt she has experienced these past 20 years. Listening to Davis’ sister, you couldn’t help but feel the frustration she has borne for these past 20 years. Listening to the state argue that you can’t allow people to get away with killing policemen reminded me of the blessing of the safe culture I live in. Listening to supporters of Davis’ claims that he was innocent, you couldn’t help but think “what if?”
For me – and I know it is all very complicated – what seems to be the bigger issue is that as a follower of Jesus who has declared Jesus Lord, there is no room in my heart for allegiance to anyone or anything other than Jesus. In some ways, the fact that God “ordained government” is not that dissimilar to the fact that He “permitted divorce” in the life of Israel. Like divorce, government isn’t reflective of God’s intentional purpose at creation. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important, but it isn’t what He intended for human life to be like.
At some level, that means I should never depend on the government to do what God has called the church to do. That idea has implications far beyond the role of the state in the death penalty. I don’t mean that if my sense of biblical testimony as it reflects the teaching of Jesus is that the death penalty is wrong, I shouldn’t say so – but it does mean that I shouldn’t think “saying so” relieves me of the burden to bring Christ to a world that is “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” to use language Matthew uses to describe how Jesus saw the world. If I think the death penalty is consistent with the role of government as described by Romans, I still should not dare think that executing Troy Davis relieves us of the responsibility to find a way to tell people like Troy Davis that there is a better way.
One of the more notable preachers in Atlanta used his sermon Sunday to denounce the injustice of the execution of Troy Davis. If the clips played on the news reflect his content, he didn’t say a word about the fact that there are hundreds of young men in Georgia who, based upon their circumstances in life, could end up being another Troy Davis. The news in our city seems to daily reflect that reality. And of all the people I’ve heard saying Davis deserved to be executed, I’m yet to hear a single one say – we must find a way to stop this cycle of violence that is far too predictable these days.
I’m not happy that Georgia executed Troy Davis. I’m not happy that he very well could have been the one who killed Officer Mark McPhail. Even if I thought the death penalty was reasonable, I wouldn’t be happy that it was carried out. I’m far less happy that it is so easy to put the burden on the state when it is the body of Christ that God has called to change the world.
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