Who said anything about getting high? We were talking about stoning and getting stoned. <g>
Bible Requires Death By Stoning For 'rebellious' Teenagers, Says PA.
Preacher
Mercersburg Activist Insists Bible Mandates Execution
The Bible mandates death by stoning for rebellious teenagers, according to a Pennsylvania preacher and Religious Right activist.
The Rev. William O. Einwechter's article, "Stoning Disobedient Children," appeared in the January issue of Chalcedon Report, a monthly journal published by the
Chalcedon Foundation in Vallecito, Calif.
In the article, Einwechter cites Deuteronomy 21:18-21, which advises parents to take "a stubborn and rebellious son" before city elders to be stoned to death if he
will not change his ways.
Einwechter's viewpoint drew criticism from church-state separationists.
"Rev. Einwechter reminds us all of why we need a clear separation between religion and government," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group. "I doubt if most Americans think we should turn America into a
fundamentalist Christian version of Iran."
Einwechter says the death penalty should be applied to "a grown son (and by extension to a daughter as well) who, for whatever reason, has rebelled against the
authority of his parents and will not profit from any of their discipline nor obey their voice in any thing."
Writes Einwechter, "[T]he execution of the rebel in view is just, merciful, and preventive. Just, in that the transgressor deserves to die; merciful, in that his quick death
prevents the destruction of the family, society, and others; preventive, in that it strikes fear in the heart of other would-be rebels and restrains them from taking a
similar ruinous course."
The Chalcedon Report is the leading publication of the "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, the most extreme contingent of the Religious Right.
Reconstructionists reject democracy and believe Christians should take "dominion" over American society. Under their version of "biblical law," the death penalty
would be required for over a dozen offenses, including adultery, homosexuality, witchcraft and spreading "false" religions.
Although the movement's numbers are relatively small, its ideas have often filtered into other Religious Right groups.
Einwechter, a Mercersburg, Pa., resident, is vice-moderator of the Association of Free Reformed Churches. He also serves as vice president of the National Reform
Association, a Pittsburgh-based group that advocates Christianity in government.
walrus.com |
