You should not broad brush. It is not fair to do so, especially since you would not want others to broad brush you with heinous accusations.

I don't speak for other pastors and other churches. I speak for myself and for the church I've privileged to lead, Kingdom Life Church. The immorality and unethical conduct that can be rightly laid at the feet of some pastors and some churches cannot be rightly laid at feet of myself and Kingdom Life Church. If you think I and Kingdom Life are no different from the immoral pastors and churches you have in mind, why don't you pay us a visit? We meet on Sunday mornings at 10 am, 25 Chesapeake Road. Our website is www.kingdom-life.org. Then I encourage you to come back to this post and give an honest report of what you see and hear. For starters, you will find that you don't have to leave your brain at the door.

I fully agree with you.

No member from Kingdom Life Church would participate in your hypothetical situation. God has his people who have not bowed their knees to idols. The people of Kingdom Life Church are among that number who have not bowed.

But I should not have to defend them because you should not make such a wreckless, unfounded assertion, especially when you hide behind a pen name.

Heartfelt sympathy to the parents and family. May you know the peace that only God can give during this difficult time. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Very well written article. From my vantage point, your generalizations of Bahamians' views towards Haitians are fair and not overstated. Thanks for having the courage to write this article, especially when, I'm sure, you knew you would receive flack for it.

CatIslandBoy, those "enlightened societies" also believe that a man should use a woman's bathroom if he feels like a woman, and they also believe that anyone who opposes the sexual revolution of sexual confusion is hateful and should be charged for a hate crime. One of them, Canada, even believes that some forms of bestiality are ok, based on a court ruling there some months ago. So, I'm happy to be considered unenlightened.

One more thing. Consider Genesis 9:6 again: the LORD said: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Notice that this verse gives the reason for capital punishment: Because the murderer shed the blood of someone made in God's own image. Capital punishment is a vindication of God himself. Fundamentally, it has nothing to do with deterrence.

I appreciate that. We don't need to argue. We can discuss the issue and even disagree without being disagreeable and disrespectful.

Let me start by saying that I did not always support capital punishment. I came to support capital punishment because I came to understand that it is what Scripture (Old and New Testament) teaches. Those who claim to follow Christ don't have the option of ignoring parts of the Bible they don't like.

In the Bible, as early as in Genesis 9:6, the LORD said: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” The execution of this punishment was placed in the hands of the judges and had to be based on at least two witnesses. Therefore, the punishment for murder was never carried out privately; it was done by representatives of the state. The punishment for murder has NEVER been revoked anywhere in The Bible. In the New Testament, in Romans 13:4, we are told that the authorities do not bear the sword in vain. The sword was the method of capital punishment at that time. The Apostle Paul here was clearly affirming and not opposing the State's right to execute wrong doers who committed capital offences.

Again, in Acts 25:10-11, the apostle Paul affirms the death penalty with respect to himself. Here's what he said: "I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. 11 “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Notice that Paul accepts the death penalty...he does not fight it.

We must be careful when we call hanging barbaric. In the Old Testament, capital punishment was carried out by stoning. So let me ask: If you had to choose to die by being stoned to death or hung, which would you choose? I think most people would choose hanging because stoning is far more painful a death to die. So when a person says hanging is barbaric, what is he or she saying to God who commanded people to be stoned?

I hope this helps.

I hear your frustration, but the Privy Council's hands can be tied so in our Constitution so that capital punishment can be carried out with respect to convicted murderers. But think about what you're saying. You only want to get rid of the Privy Council in criminal cases; what about civil cases? I believe that we need to get rid of the Privy Council, but many Bahamians do not, and that will be a long, hard, divisive fight. But an overwhelming majority of Bahamians believe in the death penalty for convicted murderers, and will overwhelmingly vote to amend the constitution to ensure that it is carried out. After that amendment we can work on the long term project of replacing the Privy Council, and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is just a regional version of the Privy Council. The CCJ is also standing as a road block to capital punishment, like so many who believe they are more enlightened than the rest of us who support capital punishment.

Sheeprunner, I'm not sure we need to do that, and that would be far more complicated than simply amending the constitution in such a way that it ties the Privy Council's hands, and they can't frustrate the carrying out of the death penalty. Attorney Sean McWeeney is on record saying that this can be done. Other lawyers agree with him. I think this is a much easier sell to the Bahamian people, and it takes less work. The government will also fear that the Privy Council might tell them to make alternative arrangements altogether if they want to drop the Privy Council for criminal matters.