MD Legislator's Priorities Warped In What Life Is Worth Defending
During the 2012 session, the Maryland State Legislature considered the abolition of the death penalty.
Opponents of the practice argued that not everyone receiving the sentence actually committed the crime of which the judicial system found them guilty.
However, having only carried out the practice five times since 1977, it is doubtful such miscarriages of justice have been perpetrated all that often in the jurisdiction under consideration.
State Senator Lissa Gladden, a sponsor of the legislation, said, "I think as a community and a government that we should not be in the business of killing people."
Senator Gladden certainly has a warped way of implementing that ethical assumption.
According to Maryland Right To Life Incorporated, Gladden voted for stem cell funding that placed no limits on the destructive harvesting of human embryos.
The legislator also voted against an amendment that would have limited taxpayer funding of abortions for reasons of mental health; in other words, for women in a panic that a pregnancy might leave them with stretch marks during swimsuit season.
So in her eyes, if you are a murderer or a rapist, Gladden believers your life is so precious that it is worth saving no matter the horror or carnage you may have wrought in other people's lives.
However, if you happen to rank among the most innocent or defenseless members of society, Senator Gladden has little problem with snuffing you out in the name of utilitarianism or convenience.
Proverbs 8:36 admonishes that those that hate God love death.
It may seem counterintuitive. But the effort to eliminate the death penalty, when coupled with the effort to legalize homosexual matrimony, indicates that the hatred of the Almighty in this particular state is approaching levels that threaten to unravel those social conventions established from on high designed to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness founded on true virtue.
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.