They Hanged Saddam Hussein Today

I know a lot of people are very happy to see Saddam Hussein go. 70% of the American people approve of the killing of Saddam. But, his death brings me no joy for several reasons.  I used to be in favor of capital punishment. But, since becoming a Universalist, I cannot support the taking of life anymore.  I just don't think we have that right, no matter what a person has done.  If taking Saddam's life could have brought back even one of the masses of people he murdered, I'd be all for it. But, killing him only brings us one step closer to his level.  I also think the death of Saddam is a kind of vengeance for the Bush family.  Saddam went after George W's Daddy and George W got Saddam.  I hope George W isn't gloating over his victory.  But, I wonder... To the subject of this blog, Universalism and ECT, Saddam's death also brought another thought to mind.

It's interesting that when we really want to get someone, we give them the death penalty.  That's supposed to be the ultimate penalty.  You do something really, really bad, we take your life.  In terms of ECT versus Annihilation versus Universal salvation, that would be most equivalent to Annihilation.  We do not sentence people to torture for the rest of their natural lives (ECT)- no matter how heinous their crimes.  We Annihilate them (from our perspective anyway). We take them out. Most of us, no matter how we feel about someone's crimes would not advocate an unlimited amount of torture (if any) to "pay" for those crimes.  In Saddam's case, there were still countless crimes he had committed that he had not even been tried for.  Yet, there was such a rush to kill him, the Iraqis preferred to kill him now and have him never face earthly justice for those crimes. 

We, who do so much evil, don't torture people for their crimes.  Yet, the doctrine of Eternal Hell says that not only does god torture people to pay for their crimes, he tortures them without end.   It just amazes me that people can worship this type of god and call him good when they think he does a thing we would find despicable if done by any court system in the world.