An Agnostic Discusses the Death Penalty

Agnostic n. 1: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly: one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god (source: Merriam Webster definition)

I grew up in a Baptist church. I attended my maternal grandmother's church every Sunday, and I enjoyed going to her church. I wasn't interested in going to hear about religion though. I just wanted to see Grandma Young pin a needle and ribbon on me without ever poking me in the chest, play Tic Tac Toe or Hangman with my older brother, and eat peppermint while I leaned on my mother's warm shoulder. But after the very beginning of church, I'd sit there skeptically, listen to people yell out "Hallelujah" and "Yes lawd," listen to the Bible being read, and hope that church was over soon. I'd also attended three other churches to celebrate my father being ordained, to Girl Scout functions, and to my paternal grandmother's church a couple of times. Out of all four churches, Trinity United Church of Christ was the only one that kept my attention, not because of the talk about religion but because of the history, truth, and inspirational sermons from Reverend Wright. However, I was never intrigued enough to voluntarily join a church after learning about slavery. There will never be a crime that I find more heinous than slavery. Not Jeffrey Dahmer. Not the killing of Emmett Till and James Byrd or the torture of Megan Williams. Not the slaying of Dr. King nor John F. Kennedy. In my mind, if there really was a God, then he/she/it surely hated African people to let them live through that kind of suffering for centuries.