Judicial system needs to be overhauled
OFTEN I’m at a loss to understand our judicial system with regard to sentencing of people convicted of criminal offences.
How can 28 days of imprisonment suspended for one, or two, years be considered a proper sentence, and if persons are homeless and jobless how can they be expected to find hundreds of pounds for costs?
Isn’t it about time that the system is overhauled so that sentences are served without delay for the full period imposed, even if life means life, and stop piling on costs which it is obvious that the miscreants would be unable to pay.
European/white Christians who approached the continent via the north witnessed caravans loaded with Africans en-route to the
Middle East. Travellers arriving much later in West Africa observed indigenous African slavery, which many assumed was inherent to the continent.
For many early European explorers, the Bible was not only regarded as infallible, it was also their primary reference book.
Christians had no doubt that it was divinely sanctioned, and they used a number of Old and New Testament quotations to prove their case.
Numerous ‘people of faith’ used it to explain differences in ethnicity, culture, and slavery. Genesis 9:
24-27 appeared to suggest that the differences were a result of sin… In this passage, Africans were said to be the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed by his father after looking at his naked form.
Moreover, in Genesis 10, the
‘Table of Nations’ describes the origins of the different races and reveals that one of the descendants of Ham is Cush-Cush (the Cushites were people associated with the Nile region of Africa).
In time, regardless of whether they were Catholics or Anglicans, the European view between sin, slavery, skin colour and beliefs would condemn ‘heathen’ Africans.
Interestingly enough, some scholars now suggest that Christianity had reached Northern Africa by the early second century and that those Christian communities were among the earliest in the world.
With the colonisation of the
Americas and the need for labour, Europeans turned their attention towards Africa, it was even argued by ‘interested parties’ that the favourable trade winds from Africa to the Americas were evidence of a providential design!
Slavery in Britain became illegal in 1772; the colonial slave trade ended in 1807; slavery in the colonies was abolished in 1833 (and the church received compensation from parliament); but it wasn’t until 2006 that the Anglican Church said sorry for the role it played in this odious business.
So, despite having used the Bible to condone slavery, and offered an ‘official apology’ it has only taken from 2006 until now for the Anglicans to remove one slaver from one cathedral. the worst hit by the current crisis and need us more than ever – across the UK a quarter of those who have died of coronavirus had dementia.
Wherever you are, we can all still help make a difference and I encourage you to sign up either with your household – pets included – friends, or another household in line with current government guidelines.
Create your own route, from lapping your garden or local park to revisiting somewhere special.
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