One of my absolute favorite West Wing episodes is the first season's "Take This Sabbath Day." It works well as a standalone (notice there aren't any previouslies before the title card), treats religious faith respectfully, and provides a thought-provoking commentary on a complicated topic, in this case the death penalty. My own views on the death penalty have evolved since I started watching this show at age fifteen, but I'd like to think West Wing played some small part in changing them. Life issues are not easy for me. For example, I support a woman's right to have an abortion because I think she should be able to decide what she does with her own body. No one should be forced to go through a pregnancy, and if the woman in question does decide to terminate one, she should be able to do it safely. However, I completely understand and respect the pro-life position, and I think we can all work together on preventing unplanned pregnancies (which is why easy access to birth control and family planning is so important, but that's another conversation for another day). Suffice to say that I don't believe any of these issues can be reduced to soundbyte status without drastic oversimplification.
I am opposed to the death penalty. I understand why its supporters feel it is necessary, I really do. The people being executed have committed heinous crimes (most of the time), and many of them should never be allowed to see the light of day again. But I don't think that the state has the right to kill anyone. At risk of moving into straw man territory, I see the death penalty as state-sanctioned murder. Nor do I believe that the "eye for an eye" mentality is particularly valid. I know the reasoning behind it, but I just think the state should be above it. According to my own Christian beliefs, vengeance is neither productive nor healthy, and while perhaps in our eyes those on death row don't deserve it, everyone is capable of final grace and redemption. Obviously these are loaded words to be throwing around, and they are definitely concepts I'd like to explore further, in religious (i.e. a Wesley forum) and nonreligious (i.e. one of my politics classes) contexts alike. Basically, I just think that killing someone for committing a crime brings the state down to the level of the criminal. That, and there's always a possibility, especially among those jailed before the advent of DNA testing, that someone on death row has been wrongfully convicted. Why not nullify the risk that you are putting to death an innocent person?
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because it is the episode Pooja and I watched today. One of The West Wing's greatest strengths is its ability to generate discussions like this (which is basically what Pooja and I talked about after the episode). It takes the time to delve into complicated issues, explore the arguments on both sides, and leave the audiences at home space to draw their own conclusions (even if, as is the case in this episode, the characters' consensus skews one way or another). I've said before that this show is like crack to a government major, and this post should tell you exactly why. Also, they used this little anecdote to talk about the way God works:
You know, you remind me of the man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town. And that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, 'I'm religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.'
The waters rose up. A guy in a row boat came along and he shouted, 'Hey, hey you! You in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety.' But the man shouted back, 'I'm religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.'
A helicopter was hovering overhead. And a guy with a megaphone shouted, 'Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I'll take you to safety.' But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety.
Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. 'Lord,' he said, 'I'm a religious man, I pray. I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?'
God said, 'I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowboat. What the hell are you doing here?
Of course it's been used in other places (I can think of The Pursuit of Happyness off the top of my head), but I still love it. Oh West Wing. It's like you were made with me in mind or something.
