It seems that the big news today is the execution in Virginia of Teresa Lewis, who used sex and cash to coerce two men into murdering her husband and stepson in order to collect on their life insurance.
It’s big news, evidently, because she was a woman. (Some news articles mention a controversy over whether she was mentally competent, but those stories are few and far between as far as I can tell.)
I’m not a proponent of the death penalty. Apart from the obvious moral implications, I just don’t think it is in any way an effective deterrent. Despite all the executions in Texas and Virginia, murder and mayhem still goes on. Do we really think a potential murderer is going to stop and think, “Hmm. If I do this, they might catch me, lock me up, and after a dozen years of court cases and appeals, they might execute me?” Nope.
Anyway. We purport to be a society of equality (heh — that makes me laugh until I cry). Why are we shocked that a woman should be executed for her role in a double homicide? Like women aren’t capable of evil? Or women should be given lighter sentences? If you’re going to be liberal, progressive, and insist on equality for all, that means this as well. The fact that she was a woman shouldn’t be newsworthy at all.
USA Today has an article that is heavy on the religious aspect:
Throughout her life, a faith in God has been a seeming constant for Lewis — whether it was the prayer with her husband hours before he was killed or her ministry behind bars.
This is the kind of thing that makes me detest religion: people who claim to be faithful to God and yet totally ignore the tenets of the religion. If I could just remind you, one of the top rules in Christianity is “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” It’s pretty simple to remember and easy to follow. Hey, I count myself as practically atheist, and yet I haven’t had any particular difficulty in following that rule. In fact, I’ve never even had to make an effort to follow it (except for certain bad days at work). So it’s really tiresome and annoying to hear about someone who’s all about faith in God, who then steals, rapes, murders, etc…. or who miraculously finds God in prison and starts a “ministry” in the big house.
Oh, one more thing while I’m ranting about hypocrisy:
Iran, the nation that brought you Death By Stoning for a woman accused of adultery (because she had a relationship with two men AFTER the death of her husband) — and also gave her 99 lashes because a newspaper ran an unveiled picture of someone identified as her but who wasn’t — issued an “indignant rebuke” on the subject of Virginia executing a woman.
Seriously.
