Fake Justice

I saw a show on Christian television in which these two young guys were, as is so often the case there, trying to sell a book. Because I don't want to promote them, I won't name the show or the book. Their theory is that freedom of religion in America is a Satanic conspiracy and that the founding fathers gave it to us so occult forces could freely sneak their mystery religions into our new country. In case you wondered, yes, the young men looked like Millenniuals. I could go on about the faux gravitas, but I'll spare you. I didn't pay attention to all of it. I was reminded of Isaiah 8:12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy, neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. A modern translation I read put it something like this: Conspiracy, conspiracy. Everything this people speaks of is a conspiracy. Don't be afraid of what they fear. I'm not a seminary graduate, but I think what was going on was that people in Isaiah's time were focused on conspiracy theories instead of focused on solving the real problems facing the nation. Sounds very familiar. Just because something sounds logical and fits the facts doesn't make it true. We have a literary genre for that. It's called Historical Fiction.

While I didn't watch every single minute of that show, a picture of the Supreme Court building caught my eye. Carved in stone was Equal Justice Under Law. It reminded me of "hate crime" laws. When those were first being debated, it was pointed out that there are no hate crimes. All crimes are "hate" crimes. A crime is a crime no matter what. In our legal system the law is supposed to punish people for what they do not for what they think or feel. The law can never ever know what a person was thinking or feeling at the time of a crime. Knowing that would require a supernatural act. The law is not supernatural. Even if the criminal swore he felt hate at the time, the law can never ever know if that's really true.

As a theoretical example, suppose you got into an argument with a stranger that led to a fight. Suppose the stranger was a member of a special class according to hate crime laws, but you're not. If the law charged the other person, he would get a light sentence if any. If the law charged you, the sentence would be severe with lengthy imprisonment. This is not equal justice under the law. What this actually does is allow the government to selectively punish people they don't like. That's what hate crime laws are really for. The government has figured out a way use dictatorial and oppressive powers under the illusion that it's constitutional, when the very carving on the Supreme Court building tells us it's injustice.

Have a great weekend.