The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017 - 25

resources & oPPorTunITIes

Born in Sin,
Upended
in Grace:

by George Williamson

What Your Church Can Do About

RACIAL JUSTICE

The BPFNA has created a new issue monograph
on Racial Justice!
Go to http://www.bpfna.org/mobilize/issuemonographs to download a free copy of this great
new resource. And, while you're there, check
out our other issue monographs on topics such
as Moral Injury of War, Gun Violence, Climate
Change, Migrant Justice and Human Trafficking.

Reason Together
continued from page 21

Born in Sin, Upended in Grace is
the autobiographical story of former
BPFNA ~ Bautistas por la Paz President and founding member, george
Williamson. Born and raised in a
church environment promoting several -isms (sexism, militarism, racism,
and elitism to name a few), george
experienced a phenomenon he calls
a "Breakthrough of god."
This breakthrough opened his
eyes to the suffering happening in
the US and around the globe and
propelled him into the world of social justice. Readers will be inspired
by george's fascinating story of
transformation and will gain insight
into his personal journey as well as
insight into the history and founding
of BPFNA.
-Order your copy today from the BPFNA
store at www.bpfna.org/equip/store.

People have strong views about capital punishment. I know that. I have
strong views about capital punishment also. But none of our views about capital
punishment, whatever they may be and however strongly we may hold them,
affect the facts in the TRO motion I reviewed and decided on good Friday.
None of our views about capital punishment, whatever they may be and however
strongly we may hold them, are relevant to whether anyone has a legal claim
to recover property that has been wrongfully obtained and is threatened to be
imminently and irreparably used, despite the demand of its rightful owner.
Whether you approve or disapprove of my religion, how I practice it, or
what influence my religious beliefs have on the way I understand life, I hope
you'll ponder my decision to grant the TRO motion in light of these realities.
I hope you'll remember that my sworn duty as a judge on good Friday 2017
was to apply property law to the facts shown in the TRO motion and decide
whether imminent and irreparable harm would happen-meaning that the
rightful owner of the vecuronium bromide would lose the chance to recover it
forever-unless I issued an order to the Arkansas Department of Correction to
preserve the vecuronium bromide until we could hold a full hearing.
I was not supposed to think about whether making the correct legal decision
would be popular to anyone, including myself, the moving party, the Department
of Correction or anyone else. I was supposed to focus on the facts and the law.
That is what judges do, whether we are religious or not. That is what judges
do, whether we support or oppose capital punishment. This is what judges do,
whether other people like it or not.
That is what I did.
-Wendell Griffen is a BPFNA member and the pastor of New Millennium Church in Little
Rock, AR. The article above is the April 19 entry from his blog, Justice Is a Verb! and is
used with permission. It was reprinted earlier in the spring issue of Christian Ethics Today.
Judge Griffen has come under considerable heat from political opponents who claim that his
decision was affected by his opposition to the death penalty. Just before press time, the Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship held a press conference in Little Rock in support of his right to religious liberty.
Member Gwenyth Lewis represented BPFNA ~ Bautistas por la Paz at the event.

Baptist Peacemaker

jul-sep 2017 25

http://www.bpfna.org/mobilize/issue-monographs http://www.bpfna.org/equip/store

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017