Geralda Miller (GMILLER@RGJ.COM)
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
October 14, 2006
A mother whose 7-year-old daughter was abducted during a family camping trip 33 years ago says she used her faith to get to a place of forgiveness for the murderer.
"In the beginning, I readily admit that I wanted to kill him," said Marietta Jaeger Lane of Montana. "With my bare hands and a smile on my face, (I wanted to kill him) for what he had done to my little girl."
However, as a Christian, she said she wrestled with her hatred and became willing to change.
"I gave God permission to change my heart," she said. "If I wanted to stay in good relation with God, I had to get clear of that rage and desire for revenge."
Lane will be in Reno and Sparks Oct. 20""22, speaking at several places of worship and the University of Nevada, Reno campus about her commitment to forgiveness and opposition to the death penalty.
It is the first time Northern Nevada is participating in the National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty, said Nancy Hart, president of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
"We hope that people of faith communities will use this time to examine their religious beliefs about the death penalty and their feeling about the death penalty and to learn more about how Nevada's death penalty is actually applied," she said.
It is what Lane said she had to do.
She says it was because of her concern and compassion for the abductor that she talked to him for an hour on the telephone when he called her home on the one-year anniversary of Susie's kidnapping.
"Although his intention was to taunt me and get his kicks," she said. "He was undone and crying by the end of the conversation."
He revealed enough during the conversation, which she taped, for authorities to identify him.
David Meirhofer, 25, confessed to killing four young people during a seven-year period and hanged himself hours later in his Montana jail cell Sept. 29, 1974. It was after he was arrested but before he went to trial. A piece of Susie's mutilated body had been found on an abandoned ranch.
Religious Views
Different faith communities understand differently scripture's position on the death penalty.
"This gets to be a very, very difficult subject for clergymen," said the Rev. George Bratiotis, pastor of Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church.
"The matter of faith and our scriptural beliefs really has to enter into a discussion of capital punishment and the death penalty."
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America joined other Christian faiths in urging the abolishment of capital punishment.
Bratiotis said people wrestle between the Old Testament law of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and Jesus' teachings to turn the other cheek.
"Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you," he said. "That becomes a difficult concept for people to accept. We always have deep discussions on this."
The recent killing of five girls in the school house in Amish country has prompted Bratiotis' personal reflection, he said.
"I go into a state of anguish over that. I know what I've learned from the Lord," he said. "But when I see heinous crimes committed and the victims are youngsters, I really have an internal, spiritual struggle over that. It causes many of us angst in our lives."
Because of the sanctity of life, Rabbi Mendel Cunin of the Chabad of Northern Nevada said Jewish courts rarely handed down the death penalty sentence in biblical times.
The death penalty is allowed according to Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind."
However, Cunin said that the verse also is a powerful declaration for life.
"If somebody does something and is found guilty, they can get it," Cunin said of the death penalty. "But the Torah makes it kind of difficult to happen."
Islam allows capital punishment for murder but stresses using forgiveness as an alternative.
"The basic rule is Islam does admit the right of life for every person," said Imam Wael Shehab, who is visiting the Northern Nevada Muslim Community in Sparks from Egypt. "Anyone who harms or takes the life of a person with no right then he is subject to the punishment. If one kills a person, then he can be killed in retaliation."
The state and the judge are entitled to apply the law and individuals cannot take the law into their own hands, he said.
The Quran also encourages alternatives to capital punishment, such paying blood money or forgiveness, Shehab said.
"That is very clear in the Quran," he said.
Lane, who is Roman Catholic, said practicing forgiveness is not easy and requires hard work and diligence.
"Anybody who says forgiveness is for wimps has never tried it," she said.
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
October 14, 2006
A mother whose 7-year-old daughter was abducted during a family camping trip 33 years ago says she used her faith to get to a place of forgiveness for the murderer.
"In the beginning, I readily admit that I wanted to kill him," said Marietta Jaeger Lane of Montana. "With my bare hands and a smile on my face, (I wanted to kill him) for what he had done to my little girl."
However, as a Christian, she said she wrestled with her hatred and became willing to change.
"I gave God permission to change my heart," she said. "If I wanted to stay in good relation with God, I had to get clear of that rage and desire for revenge."
Lane will be in Reno and Sparks Oct. 20""22, speaking at several places of worship and the University of Nevada, Reno campus about her commitment to forgiveness and opposition to the death penalty.
It is the first time Northern Nevada is participating in the National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty, said Nancy Hart, president of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
"We hope that people of faith communities will use this time to examine their religious beliefs about the death penalty and their feeling about the death penalty and to learn more about how Nevada's death penalty is actually applied," she said.
It is what Lane said she had to do.
She says it was because of her concern and compassion for the abductor that she talked to him for an hour on the telephone when he called her home on the one-year anniversary of Susie's kidnapping.
"Although his intention was to taunt me and get his kicks," she said. "He was undone and crying by the end of the conversation."
He revealed enough during the conversation, which she taped, for authorities to identify him.
David Meirhofer, 25, confessed to killing four young people during a seven-year period and hanged himself hours later in his Montana jail cell Sept. 29, 1974. It was after he was arrested but before he went to trial. A piece of Susie's mutilated body had been found on an abandoned ranch.
Religious Views
Different faith communities understand differently scripture's position on the death penalty.
"This gets to be a very, very difficult subject for clergymen," said the Rev. George Bratiotis, pastor of Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church.
"The matter of faith and our scriptural beliefs really has to enter into a discussion of capital punishment and the death penalty."
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America joined other Christian faiths in urging the abolishment of capital punishment.
Bratiotis said people wrestle between the Old Testament law of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and Jesus' teachings to turn the other cheek.
"Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you," he said. "That becomes a difficult concept for people to accept. We always have deep discussions on this."
The recent killing of five girls in the school house in Amish country has prompted Bratiotis' personal reflection, he said.
"I go into a state of anguish over that. I know what I've learned from the Lord," he said. "But when I see heinous crimes committed and the victims are youngsters, I really have an internal, spiritual struggle over that. It causes many of us angst in our lives."
Because of the sanctity of life, Rabbi Mendel Cunin of the Chabad of Northern Nevada said Jewish courts rarely handed down the death penalty sentence in biblical times.
The death penalty is allowed according to Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind."
However, Cunin said that the verse also is a powerful declaration for life.
"If somebody does something and is found guilty, they can get it," Cunin said of the death penalty. "But the Torah makes it kind of difficult to happen."
Islam allows capital punishment for murder but stresses using forgiveness as an alternative.
"The basic rule is Islam does admit the right of life for every person," said Imam Wael Shehab, who is visiting the Northern Nevada Muslim Community in Sparks from Egypt. "Anyone who harms or takes the life of a person with no right then he is subject to the punishment. If one kills a person, then he can be killed in retaliation."
The state and the judge are entitled to apply the law and individuals cannot take the law into their own hands, he said.
The Quran also encourages alternatives to capital punishment, such paying blood money or forgiveness, Shehab said.
"That is very clear in the Quran," he said.
Lane, who is Roman Catholic, said practicing forgiveness is not easy and requires hard work and diligence.
"Anybody who says forgiveness is for wimps has never tried it," she said.
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