wfn.org | Internet users discuss death penalty

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1999-01-27 14:24
Priority: 3
Message ID: 49E63AA8F549BE11810A7611E65C8882
Conversation ID: Internet users discuss death penalty

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 27, 1999
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
(219)  294-7523
<News@MBM.org>

Internet users discuss honest struggles over the death penalty

HARRISONBURG, Va. (MBM) - How do you get an Internet discussion going?
It's the old "Field of Dreams" movie question: If you build an Internet   
site
that requires participation from the public, will they come? If you put   
up a
topic, will a dialogue begin? Intelligently?

On Mennonite Board of Missions' ministry web site, Third Way Cafe,   
<www.thirdway.com>, staff and Internet users have watched a trickle of
participants become wider and more varied in opinion since the site began   

in May 1998. And they've found, in the process, that the ongoing
relationships formed through these discussion groups help people
consider other perspectives, including the Anabaptist themes highlighted
prominently on the site.

Mennonite Media, a department of MBM in Harrisonburg, produces and
oversees the Third Way Cafe. (The specific Internet address for this
discussion section is <www.thirdway.com/btn/btnadia.html>.)

To first get the discussion going, staff asked friends and acquaintances   
to
post opinions. In addition to the Beyond the News discussion pages, Third   
Way
Cafe includes sections on "Who are the Mennonites" with frequently asked
questions; a "Photo Gallery;" Another Way comments on family and personal   

issues; and weekly commentary from the U.S. and Canadian capitals of
Washington and Ottawa provided by Mennonite Central Committee and other
writers.

One of the early unsolicited participants objected to the early comments:   
   

"This is not a dialogue," wrote Phil. (Participants are required only to   
use a
name and fill in their e-mail address.)  "A dialogue is a discussion   
between
people of differing viewpoints. All of the contributors oppose the death
penalty. Where are the voices of those on the other side?"

The Beyond the News dialogue pages are not a live chat room, but rather   
an unmoderated discussion group. Internet staff member Wayne Gehman reads   

the posts and edits them for grammar or clarity, coding them for the web   
site.
Comments are posted Monday through Thursday.

Content for the current Beyond the News page came primarily from an MBM   
video, Beyond the News: Murder Close Up produced by Jerry L. Holsopple.
Participants can send e-mail messages directly to some of the people
interviewed in the video through the web site, or respond by posting   
their
own thoughts and opinions in the "Join the Dialogue" section.

Responses have increased in recent weeks, with people interacting with
each other, not just with the original articles. "Sometimes I want to   
jump in
and add my two cents, but I have to restrain myself," Holsopple said. "I   
have
to remind myself that is not the purpose.  We've put up the content.  The   
purpose
is to get people to interact on issues impacting faith and the world, and   
they
are doing that. We wanted to design a site where interactive   
communication
would take place."

In most Internet discussion groups and chat rooms, the participants get   
to
know each other and frequently argue with each other, sometimes heatedly.   

One frequent contributor to the Beyond the News discussion, Lon, has
solicited dialogue and also been careful not to be mean. "I see opponents   
of
the death penalty here basing their views on, if I may, emotions and   
vague
definitions of love, but no explicit Old Testament, New Testament
references for a theological argument for their beliefs. An exhaustive
rebuke on Genesis 9:5-6 is requested."

After one participant, Jim, noted that he is Mennonite and has profound
mixed feelings about the issue, Lon responded by thanking Jim for his   
honesty
and saying, "I would like to start by apologizing to the web guy for not
thanking him/her for putting together this great site. I got so involved   
in
yapping, I just forgot to say thank you. To my brothers and sisters,   
please do
not take my debates personally. I just like to discuss theological   
matters.
I'm from the Mennonite tradition as well, although [I] no longer attend.
I believe the [criminal justice] system should be revamped totally to
protect the innocent."

"I am always amazed at how people's definition of justice seems like a
redefinition of 'revenge' - and it always depends on whether they get   
their
way or not," said David, another participant.  "The deterrence of the   
death
penalty has long been debunked, and those who advocate the death penalty
for this or that prisoner always talk about 'closure' or 'healing' for
themselves. The death penalty is selfish and vengeful."

"David," responded Brad, "I won't paint all anti-death penalty advocates
with the same brush if you'll do the same with those of us who believe   
the
death penalty is biblical. I don't speak of 'closure and healing.' I   
speak of
biblically based justice. There are those who call on the death penalty   
for
purely vengeful reasons - this is totally wrong. There are those who are
 just as vengeful who don't believe in the death penalty: this, too, is   
wrong."
   

Another participant, Jose, asked people to consider the practical side of   

their theorizing: "How can a pastor, who has seen the violence in the
streets of Chicago, believe that talking about victims and criminals and   
the
death penalty [will] save the addicted kind [of people] on my sidewalk.   
Hey,
tell me where to turn. The church runs away. They have kids, babies to
take care of. Where are the professors, the theologians, the educators.
Goshen College, Eastern Mennonite University, Hesston.  I don't see
them on my sidewalk."

Finally, a respondent from Indonesia, Donny, noted that too often there
are "politically vested interests" tied up in the death penalty. "I live   
in
Indonesia, where the death penalty is seldom instated. Instead, the   
society
simply kills criminals on the crime spot. Police also often do that,   
well-
known but unpublicized. When you see it here, then you understand
how evil is the evil."
   

After a particularly theological post by Edward, Lon responded:
"Congrats on a well-written, thought out disputation of some of my
positions. It has made me sit down and think."

While Third Way Cafe is intended as a ministry to the general public,
Mennonites and non-Mennonites alike are using the site.  The web server
 has shown people visiting the site from beyond the United States and
Canada, including  the United Kingdom (most popular), Malaysia,
Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, South Africa, France, Australia,
Kenya, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Zambia, Austria, Mexico,
and Portugal. Frequent hits from persons using U.S. government or
U.S. military computers also register.

A new discussion forum for the Beyond the News page is planned on the
web site by late spring, highlighting Christian responses to immigration
issues. The death penalty discussion will be archived where people
can still read posts but not respond. New discussion topics will go up
on a periodic basis.

* * *
Melodie M. Davis