The Power of Words. Clinton hears plea for McVeigh

8/25/97
Clinton hears plea
for McVeigh
By SCOTT MacKAY
Journal-Bulletin State House Bureau

       OAK BLUFFS, Mass. -- It is probably one of the most wrenching questions a Christian can ask him or herself: Can you look at a photograph of Timothy McVeigh, forgive him and spare him the death penalty?
       That inquiry goes to the heart of what it means to be a Christian, the Rev. John Miller, the Protestant chaplain at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, said yesterday in a sermon attended by President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and almost 1,000 others at church services held at the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association.
       In a passionate - and to some in the congregation, startling - sermon, Mr. Miller used the Oklahoma City bomber as a prime example of why a just society governed by Christian values should forgo the death penalty, even for a crime so heinous as McVeigh's.
       "To love and to forgive . . . I think this is the essence of being a Christian," said Miller. "If we profess to be Christians, then we are called to love and to forgive. I invite you to look at a picture of Timothy McVeigh and to forgive him. I have, and I ask you to do so as well."
       Mr. Miller, 50, of Little Compton, who is an Episcopal pastor, was preaching yesterday as a guest minister at the Tabernacle, an outdoor church in the picturesque summer colony of Oak Bluffs, where nondenominational services are held each summer Sunday morning.
       Mr. Miller's usual pulpit is at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, where he ministers to the spiritual needs of prisoners.
       The Clintons are finishing the first week of their three-week vacation on Martha's Vineyard. As they have in past vacations on the island, the Clintons went to church yesterday at the Tabernacle, which invites a different minister every week to preach.
       The president and Mrs. Clinton listened intently to Mr. Miller's remarks.
       Mr. Miller touched on both religious and secular arguments favoring capital punishment, which polls show is supported by most Americans. Citing his work at the ACI, Mr. Miller said he has become convinced that the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder.
       "In my work at the prison in Rhode Island, I have come to know and counsel more than 35 first- and second-degree murderers. All of them have told me that the threat of capital punishment would not have stopped them from committing their crime."
       And he took a stance familiar to death-penalty opponents - that the judicial system is weighted against the poor getting a fair shake in capital cases. "The rich, who can afford lawyers that can focus on their case, often win in our adversarial system. The poor, who have to rely on hard-working but overworked public defenders, often lose cases that should be won."
       In a religious vein, Mr. Miller said there would appear to be a conflict between the 6th Commandment - thou shall not kill - and a passage from Genesis calling for the deaths of those who kill. Yet, Mr. Miller said, God himself intervened to spare the life of Cain after he killed Abel. "God's grace spared the first first-degree murderer."
       Reaction from the congregation was sharply divided. Some said Mr. Miller had no business injecting such a polarizing issue into a religious service attended by the president. Others said his sermon showed him to be a minister embodying the Christian virtue of having the courage of one's conviction.
       "I was very saddened that the minister used the time in his sermon to give us his opinions rather than to fill us with the spirit of Jesus," said Hope Reis, of Weston, Conn. "I came to be filled with the spirit of the Lord, not to be lectured to on a political subject."
       Those who cheered Mr. Miller's approach said they agreed with his death- penalty stance.
       "I felt he was very courageous to give a sermon like that," said Betsy Hall Carton of New York City. "I was especially glad that the president got to hear it. He needs to hear that side."
       Mr. Clinton, who supports the death penalty for heinous murderers, did not respond to a shouted question about the sermon from a reporter. But Mr. Miller said the president came up to him afterward and told him he delivered a brave sermon. "(Mr. Clinton) said it was a brave sermon: those were his exact words."
       And it was clear the Clintons were not upset about the minister's remarks; they invited Mr. Miller and his wife, Lora Miller, to brunch at a restaurant near the tabernacle. At the Sweet Life Cafe, the president had duck hash and poached eggs, and Mrs. Clinton dined on Irish oatmeal. The Clintons shared a fresh fruit plate, and the meal lasted about an hour.
       Conversation at brunch ranged from such political issues as prison reform and global warming to family issues. Talk did not dwell on the sermon, Mr. Miller said.
       "It was a kind of low-key pleasant hour," said Mr. Miller.
       Said Lora Miller: "They were very gracious . . . very easy to talk to . . . good people. They were fascinated with how John got into prison ministry." Mr. Miller was a banker before he entered the ministry about a decade ago.
       The rest of the ceremony was a fairly typical mainstream Protestant service: the congregation sang hymms, including one of the president's favorites, "Amazing Grace," and recited the Lord's Prayer.
       The dress of those in the congregation ran the gamut from Sunday best to golf-course casual. Mrs. Clinton chose a dressy, dark print dress, while Mr. Clinton opted for casual attire; a green polo shirt, tan khakis and a blue blazer.
       Tom and Nikki Surr, of Oak Bluffs, a couple who sing in the tabernacle choir, said they were impressed that the president appeared to know several of the hymns by heart. "We were looking right down at him, and it looked like he knew all the words without looking at the hymnal."
       The first couple sat up front, under a large sign that carried a message from Genesis that read: "Surely the Lord is in this Place."
       After the service, the Clintons walked through the Camp Meeting Association, a summer colony of quaint gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs, greeting people and shaking hand after hand.
       Once again, the gregarious style Mr. Clinton has polished in political campaigns his entire adult life won him the goodwill of the crowd. "It is incredible how personable the president is. He took his pen right out of his pocket and autographed my daughter's poster," said Paul Giordano, a Medford, Mass., police officer. "He is just a great guy."
       Giordano also said Mr. Miller's sermon was thoughtful. "As a police officer, I generally support capital punishment, but he made me think about it. It really made me think about it."
       Mr. Miller cited the words of Jesus, from the book of Matthew. "For all those who take the sword shall perish by the sword."
       "Jesus is telling us that those who live by violence will die violent deaths," said Mr. Miller. "I believe that violence begets violence . . . when the state supports executions, it invites an ongoing cycle of violence."

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