Voters agreed with the Florida
Conference’s stand on second-hand smoke, opposed it on the death
penalty.
By Michael Wacht
ORLANDO — Delegates to the past two Florida Annual Conference
events have approved resolutions calling for the elimination of
environmental tobacco smoke and capital punishment. This year, Florida
voters found common ground with United Methodists on the issue of
second-hand smoke, but a majority voted in opposition to the church’s
stance on the death penalty.
To educate voters about the United Methodist Church and Florida
Conference’s stands on election issues, the conference posted
information about resolutions and the United Methodist Social
Principles on its Web site. Voters were encouraged to study the issues
and pray for guidance before voting.
Voters in Florida approved a constitutional amendment Nov. 5 that
prohibits “tobacco smoking in enclosed indoor workplaces” by a
margin of 71 percent to 29 percent.
Bill Fackler, a member of First United Methodist Church,
Jacksonville, and chairman of the conference’s Church and Society
Ministry team, said he was pleased the measure passed. “We should be
pleased to see that the secular community recognizes, as does the
religious community, the detrimental effects secondhand smoke has,”
he said.
The Florida Conference expressed its support of “any referendum
effort to curtail or eliminate the presence of environmental tobacco
smoke by prohibiting smoking in the workplace” through a resolution
passed at the 2002 Florida Annual Conference event. The resolution
cited health issues as the major reason for opposition to
environmental or secondhand smoke.
Alma Manney, a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Orlando
and the Florida Conference’s Peace with Justice coordinator, said
the amendment’s passage was “good news…” In addition to health
issues, Manney said the measure has economic impact because tobacco
use increases health care and insurance costs.
“It’s also a moral issue with the United Methodist Church,”
she said. “John Wesley…was always taking a stand against it
[tobacco use].”
By a vote of more than 2-to-1, Floridians also supported an
amendment that “expressly authorizes the death penalty for capital
crimes and…changes the prohibition against ‘cruel or unusual
punishment.’ ”
Fackler said that result is “regrettable.”
“Amendment 1 is clearly in opposition to the United Methodist
Church’s position,” he said. “It’s regrettable that we lost.
It’s also regrettable that we lost by such a wide margin.”
At the 2001 Florida Annual Conference event, delegates passed a
resolution urging Florida’s executive and legislative branches to
“eliminate capital punishment from criminal codes and seek
alternative forms of punishment.”
The Rev. Brett Opalinski, a United Methodist elder in the Florida
Conference and doctorate student at Iliff School of Theology in
Denver, was one of two co-sponsors of the capital punishment
resolution. Opalinski said he was “saddened” by the results of the
election. “It’s going to make the death penalty much easier to use…much
more accessible,” he said.
Opalinski said his interest in the issue comes from his interest in
Christian history. “The death penalty is counter to the teachings of
Jesus…Peter, Paul and the early Christians,” he said. “It calls
into question Jesus’ teachings and whether they’re relevant to
society today. It’s hard to make a case for love and execution at
the same time.”
Craig Corbitt, an Orlando-area attorney and former United Methodist
elder who has worked with Church and Society on the death penalty
issue, said the amendment’s passage was “an awful thing…terrible.
I’m appalled by it.”
“The death penalty is intentionally killing someone,” he said.
“Let’s stop killing people. I don’t want to be responsible for
killing someone. What does the death penalty say about us as a society…about
me?”
Corbitt said the amendment takes all right to interpret the death
penalty out of the state’s hands and puts it into the hands of the
United States Supreme Court. “It was nothing but politics…a battle
between the [Florida] Supreme Court and the legislature.”
Both Corbitt and Opalinski said their opposition does not translate
into a lack of concern for victims. Corbitt said the church should be
and is involved in healing ministry to victims.
Manney said the most disturbing part of the amendment was that it
lowered the minimum age for execution to 16. “We see children as
objects,” she said. “We’re impatient and insensitive, and we don’t
want to deal with the issues that cause children to be in those
circumstances [involved in the legal system].”
Fackler asks pastors to raise the death penalty issue in their
congregations. “The role of the church is to be prophetic,” he
said. “Our witness is, ‘the death penalty is wrong,’ but we shy
away from it because it’s controversial. When we shy away from
difficult issues, we lose the opportunity to learn from each other.”
Corbitt encouraged United Methodists opposed to the death penalty
to talk to their legislators and encourage them to vote on a new
amendment. “They can also refuse to be part of a jury empanelled on
a capital case,” he said. “State your opposition to the death
penalty up front.”
Corbitt said it’s easy for people to dismiss those opposed to the
death penalty as “liberals.”
“Do not get discouraged and withdraw from the discussion because
we’re in a minority position,” he said. “We need to be ready and
to explain…what we are called to do by faith—be merciful, love our
neighbors and not kill people.” |
