In his book, God's Law: The Only Political Solution, republican politician Charlie Fuqua calls for the institution of the death penalty against rebellious children. Fuqua, who previously served on the Arkansas legislature and is seeking reelection, invokes biblical scripture to bolster his argument. Specifically, he refers to a passage in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 21: 18-21:
18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. (Bible Gateway).
Arguing further for the capital punishment of disobedient children, he writes,"...if it were the law of land [sic], it would give parents authority...it would be a tremendous incentive for children to give proper respect to their parents." (Fuqua). In what can only be described as a twisted, sadistic idea of parental love, Fuqua claims that only parents who loved their children very much would resort to petitioning the government to have their children stoned to death.
Perhaps Fuqua should consider himself lucky that the bible does not call for the stoning of hypocrites. In his book, he calls for the expelling of all Muslims from the country, calling the religion a "problem". He apparently doesn't see the hypocrisy in calling out the Muslim religion while admitting that his own bible allows for sharia-style honor killings. In addition, he accuses liberals of wanting a government "solution for every problem", stating that "Men working together through the power of government have done more harm than any other human institution". (Fuqua). It is hypocritical to level this claim against liberals while asking the government to relieve people of their parental responsibilities. He is correct, however, in speaking about the harm that can be done by people and government working together. After all, what could be more harmful to society than a politician who use religion to seek the government-sanctioned honor killing of children?
References:
"Bible Gateway." BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2012. http://www.biblegateway.com/.
Fuqua, Charles. God's Law: The Only Political Solution. Amazon Book Publishing, 2012. Kindle edition.
