What do you do if you are a plain Christian and you receive jury duty? Be patient, polite and a good example to others. Don't be strident or angry. Read the bible and other literature to back up your beliefs. I found anabaptist.org to be a good source. It was there that I found the policy on jury duty that was adopted by the Southeastern Mennonite Conference in 1993.
I reported to the Jury room on time and explained that I was a Mennonite and unable to swear an oath. They asked if I could affirm that I would tell the truth, which I then did. So there was the oath problem taken care of.
Next we were taken up to the hallway outside of the courtroom. I was ready to speak to the judge about my inability to judge others. We sat and sat. It became obvious to us that something was taking place. The judge came out and explained that the defendant had decided to take a plea deal, so our case had gone away.
We went back to the jury room and were formally excused from any further jury duty. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
I almost (not quite) wish that I had the opportunity to see how the judge reacted to my argument. Perhaps some of you have had this experience.
The moral of the story is to not get upset if you get summoned. Just stick by your beliefs, trust in God and everything with work out.
God bless,
Pam
I am a Bible believing Christian and I think we have a civic duty to sit on juries. We judge people if we decide to cross the street because the people we are meeting look dangerous to us. Is considering information obtained from two opposing sides judging? The people who should serve on a jury are those who feel the weight of their decision on another’s life. If jurors aren’t chosen from among conscientious citizens then they have to be appointed. Appointed by whom and from what list? Court would truly stink with corruption.
ReplyDeleteAt my last jury summons, a murder,the case could not go forward because so many prospective jurors stated they could not be objective in hearing this particular case since they knew or were acquainted with the defendant, the victim, or some member of either’s family. What they were inferring was that they did not have the capacity to separate their emotions from the information presented to them during the trial to make an informed decision. What they never considered was that the defendant had to continue to sit in jail and the victim's family continued to live in limbo.
“This world is not our home,” but we still live in it and are called to be stewards of the world around us.