We Need More Moral Leadership In America, Not Less
By George Mason
Judge Wendell Griffen is like every other American, a man entitled to the protections of the law he himself has vowed to uphold. His right to protest the death penalty as a private citizen is unquestioned. Being a public servant and an officer of the court does not change that right. Every citizen has more than one role in life. Judge Griffen is no different. He is a man, a black man, a husband, a father, a judge, a preacher, an Arkansan and an American. The First Amendment to the Constitution, as well as Arkansas’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, guarantees that Judge Griffen does not have to deny being Reverend Griffen in order to carry out his public duties. He can carry his conscience to work, as long as he impartially carries out the law as a judge. When he deems a law unjust, he is permitted to bring his conscience to bear in protest as a Christian minister and as a moral agent like every other citizen.
Religious liberty is good for everyone, but it is easier in theory than in practice. When Judge Griffen exercised his religious freedom to protest the death penalty in a nonviolent way, he modeled for us precisely the kind of dissent we must protect. That protest was his right, and the manner in which he protested was also right.
Religiously motivated moral dissent should provoke reflection, not reaction or retaliation. This is how democracy works. When any subject is off limits or any citizen is limited in exercising free speech, democracy does not work.
The proper path now is for the legislature and judicial commission to stand down, affirm Judge Griffen’s conduct as both legal and ethical, and allow Arkansans to have a robust debate on the death penalty, if they so choose.
Rev. Dr. George A. Mason is Senior Pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas and can be reached at: gmason@wilshirebc.org (214) 803-8300
