After This One, How About That One?

By Rick Horowitz

Dear Pat: I'm sorry about the way things turned out for Karla Faye Tucker.

I know you tried very hard to save her life, and so did many of your fellow evangelicals. You made her cause your own, on the Christian Broadcasting Network and elsewhere, but despite your best efforts and those of others similarly inclined, the authorities went ahead and executed her anyway. It's only natural that you'd feel a deep sense of disappointment, even futility.

Please don't.

I know this had to be a special case for you -- after all, many of you have been strong supporters of the death penalty -- but I hope you won't give up completely. Somewhere on death row, in Texas or elsewhere, there has to be another woman like Karla Faye Tucker, another woman who committed a horrible crime and later found her way to God. Can't you try to save her life?

She may not be exactly like Karla Faye Tucker, this other woman -- I know that. Young, articulate, attractive women aren't always easy to find on death row; not every inmate gets to be photographed in golden light streaming through the prison walls the way Karla Faye Tucker was.

So you may have to settle for young and articulate but not so attractive. Or young and attractive but not so articulate. Or even attractive and articulate but not so young. Two out of three wouldn't be bad, would it? It would still give you plenty to work with.

And if you somehow can't find another woman who qualifies? Well, perhaps you could find a deserving man, a young, articulate, attractive man who had found God on death row. There have to be a few of those, don't you think? Any one of them would certainly appreciate your assistance every bit as much as Karla Faye Tucker did. And again, you could settle for two traits out of three -- or even one out of three if you had to. The main thing is that this man, whoever he is, had found God.

He wouldn't even have to be a white man. I know some people have suggested that a big reason everyone got so worked up about Karla Faye Tucker was that she was white. But I'm sure you're willing to cast your merciful net more widely than that; non-white people can find God, too, can't they? Of course they can.

Something else to consider: Does it have to be the Christian God? That's the one Karla Faye Tucker found, of course, but other people sometimes choose other paths; wouldn't it be inspiring if you were to take up for one or two of them? If they've found God -- any God -- aren't their lives equally worth saving? I knew you'd agree.

So where are we? You've got more options than you ever imagined. If I'm reading you correctly, you and your fellow evangelicals ought to be willing to spare the lives of Christians or non-Christians, the attractive or the plain, the articulate or the mute, the young or the old, women or men -- as long as they've truly found God. Fair enough.

And what about the ones who haven't found God yet? Karla Faye Tucker wasn't born again the day they threw her into her jail cell, was she? These things take time. If they'd executed Karla Faye Tucker as soon as they convicted her, she would never have had the opportunity to grow into the person you and your colleagues were so ready to fight for. The problem is: There's no predicting when redemption comes -- but once you're gone, you're gone.

It's good that you fought for Karla Faye Tucker.

Now what about the ones who might find God tomorrow?

2/6/98