Believe

To start, I think that the juror should be taken to trail for trying to impose her beliefs upon others. While it is debatable that the United States was largely founded on Christian ideas or beliefs, the most important facet that holds this government together is the idea of freedom. Freedom of speech and most importantly beliefs. Not only does this juror take these ideas out of the decision process by using a religious idea, she does so in a very ignorant way. Keenan brings to light the idea of via negativa, or the idea that no interpretation of a sacred scripture can contradict community, the cross, or the new creation. This juror clearly took something from the bible in a single sense, without finding all of the references to mercy, and portrayed something from the bible as a primary idea, which it clearly is not. Jesus talks about ideas of forgiveness and turning one check after having the other slapped; these references clearly contradict that of the confused juror and cause her belief, which exists outside of the law, the only thing that she is supposed to be considering when in a trial. I think that it is important to hold strong beliefs and know what you personally believe in. However, I think that the messages that exist within the bible are too vague to be used with issues such as the death penalty. I fell that when dealing with Capital punishment, we must realize that it is not a "Christian" or "Jew" decision. It is essential to look at capital punishment as an issue on a national level, being that it could be a Muslim or atheist's decision whether or not the death penalty is appropriate for a Christian or Jew.