Our culture is so thoroughly saturated with violence that even as we suffer from it, consider ourselves victims of it and hate it, we nonetheless believe that it is redemptive, that it can make bad situations better, that it can achieve the goals we desire. I'm here to tell you that violence is a lie. It feeds on itself and produces only more violence. When we are violent, all we touch with it is injured. There is no healing.
Nothing is restored.
There is no peace, no satisfaction, no reconciliation. When we are violent, whether as individuals or as society, our very souls are assaulted, poisoned and wounded. Capital punishment is also a lie. No one is restored. No good is created.