(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Thermal Thursday: Progressive Christianity and Equal Justice: With Jon Stewart! And Bonus Video! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-06 Today’s Topic: A search for “progressive christianity and equal justice” brought me to this, amongst others: The Equal Justice Initiative, founded by Bryan Stevenson. EJI has fought cases all the way to the US Supreme Court when necessary, fighting against excessive punishments, death penalties, abuse, and over-criminalising of children. They are working to eliminate legal bias against the poor, minorities, and the mentally ill. (You can assist their efforts here, if you’re so inclined.) Mr. Stevenson was brought up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and he credits his faith for his later legal views and activism: These experiences [in his church] informed his belief that "each person in our society is more than the worst thing they've ever done.” In particular, his Church taught redemption: To stand back up if they’ve fallen down. Good lessons for all of us, I think. We all make mistakes. Learn what you can from them and then move on. However, an excessively punitive criminal justice system does not allow its targets to move on. OTOH, an excessively forgiving criminal justice system, as seems to exist for the $Rumps of the world, corporations as people, and their ilk, does not require anyone to learn from their mistakes — or they learn that it must be OK since they face no consequences. For more on our two-tiered justice system, see The Problem with Jon Stewart: OK, 55 minutes: tl;dw for many of you. For those who like deep dives, enjoy! It is Jon Stewart, after all. For the rest of you, some of the salient points are that since Enron, because it is so difficult and expensive to prosecute wealthy people who will spend to hire lots of lawyers to fight every point, the DOJ typically does a “deferred prosecution agreement” (DPA) that basically says “Don’t do that again, we’re watching,” so they can say they did something with a lot smaller fight. But really, nobody is punished, and often that means nothing really changes, or only as minimally as possible. They also discuss what has been said around here a few times as well: That there is one group of people who the law protects but does not bound; and one group of people who the law bounds but does not protect. Of course, groups like EJI are more focused on people who are unprotected, and understandably so. However, I propose that the elite being unbound is also a big part of the systemic longevity of racism in criminal “justice”. In other words, if we truly had liberty and justice for ALL, then we would have a system that was much more lenient for everyone. Since the elite would not stand for being treated like the poor are currently treated by the system! So we need to stand up for both: A system that holds people accountable. And a system that combines justice with mercy so that punishment is instructive, not excessively punitive. Zechariah 7:9: This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.” Or as Mr. Stevenson says: We are more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. Bonus Video: Apropos of nothing prior, I kind of hope you’re watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Unfortunately, it’s only available on Amazon Prime. As a sometime unpaid stand-up comedian, I love this series. Her family is Jewish, as is one of the series’ creators, which is not usually a major plot line. But this had me ROFLMAO: Abe, Mrs. Maisel’s father (both her parents are quirky and kind of clueless, as she portrays them as part of her stand-up routine), hides in a Catholic church. In order to blend in, he ends up taking communion — then spits it out at the first opportunity! And he doesn’t know what to do with it — “the body of Christ”. He is both disgusted and trying to treat it with respect. You have to watch it. Tony Shalhoub is brilliant. And the clip is short. Later in the same episode, they still haven’t done anything with the communion wafer. They say something like, “You can’t flush the body of Christ down the toilet. He’s suffered enough already.” Their last season starts mid April. I don’t know if they’ll ever resolve this, if the wafer will remain somewhere in their apartment, or if they’ll drop the thread. I hope not the latter! Sometimes you just need a good laugh break (h/t minacat) Finally as always, let’s elevate our Community Cred and repost The Needs List! From Aashirs nani (with permission) on Helping Humpday! PLEASE NOTE: When sending via PayPal, be sure to select “Send to family/friend” to avoid fees on either end. Be aware, both donor and recipient, that GFM not only charges fees, but also money received through that platform is treated as taxable income. If you are requesting help through GFM, also be aware that there can be delays in accessing the money. COMMUNITY NEEDS LIST AS OF 4/05/23: Please note also that Chef Bobby Neary, “@nuevopioneer,” has passed away. We will continue to post his favourite charity to honour him — please consider a donation to the Satos, the street pets of Puerto Rico! Bobby adopted his own Sato, Missilu, as well as raised funds for PR’s Satos. I’m in for a mickle each week toward a variety of DKos members on the Needs List. I hope you’ll join me. 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