If Democrat Reggie Jones Sawyer had his way, he would change the old saying, “a chicken in every pot” to “a criminal in every home and business”. Worse he is using religion as the explanation for theft and corruption.
“Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer said in a flattering Calmatters profile this past week that his views on criminal justice were based on his Christian faith.
“I’m really a New Testament kind of guy — that God believed in forgiveness,” Jones-Sawyer told Calmatters. “That’s what we balance with public safety.”
Jones-Sawyer, the progressive Democrat who chairs the Assembly Public Safety Committee, has been under fire recently for his policy positions, including when he recently tried killing a bill that would have codified child sex trafficking as a “serious” felony.
Do you think Jesus would support the Jones view that the sex trafficking of woman is OK? California has become a war zone—and the Democrats are protecting the criminals. Feel safe?
Reggie Jones-Sawyer’s incoherent idea of what it means to be a ‘New Testament kind of guy’
By MATT FLEMING, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 8/20/23 https://www.sgvtribune.com/2023/08/20/reggie-jones-sawyers-incoherent-idea-of-what-it-means-to-be-a-new-testament-kind-of-guy/?utm_source=ourcommunitynow&utm_medium=web
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer said in a flattering Calmatters profile this past week that his views on criminal justice were based on his Christian faith.
“I’m really a New Testament kind of guy — that God believed in forgiveness,” Jones-Sawyer told Calmatters. “That’s what we balance with public safety.”
Jones-Sawyer, the progressive Democrat who chairs the Assembly Public Safety Committee, has been under fire recently for his policy positions, including when he recently tried killing a bill that would have codified child sex trafficking as a “serious” felony.
It’s not for me to judge what’s in Jones-Sawyer’s heart and I take him at his word, but his quote actually raises more questions than it answers.
Biblically it’s a mess. The New and Old Testaments have the same God, so the distinction he’s trying to make doesn’t really make sense. I assume he’s trying to distance himself from the fire-and-brimstone perception many people have of the Old Testament. But it’s actually very hard (impossible?) to explain Jesus’ earthly ministry without the Old Testament.
Jones-Sawyer’s absolutely right that forgiveness is a key teaching of the Bible. From the cross Jesus pleaded for forgiveness for his assailants. And proving that this is not just something for Messiahs, Pope John Paul II famously forgave and even developed a bit of a friendship with his would-be assassin.
Jones-Sawyer sees the criminal justice system as harsh and unnecessarily punitive and has focused heavily on rehabilitation and fighting recidivism, which unquestionably serves both society and God.
Jones-Sawyer has also challenged the idea that longer sentences automatically make society safer. I think he has a point: lengthening sentences in perpetuity likely has diminishing returns.
It’s good to be merciful, but the government also has a responsibility to protect society and punish evil.
As much as God is a God of forgiveness, He is a God of justice as well. Romans 13:4 says that those in authority “are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment to the wrongdoer.”
And this is where Jones-Sawyer’s tends to go off the rails.
As chairman, Jones-Sawyer has immense power to block bills he doesn’t like, like one that sought to treat spousal rape like any other rape (the penalties for the former were less severe than the latter). He opposed the measure and argued at the time he feared “Black and brown men would be incarcerated at higher rates than white men,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.
Jones-Sawyer followed the same train of thought when he recently opposed a bill to impose stiffer penalties for child sex traffickers because it “unfairly punishes disadvantaged communities.”
Jones-Sawyer seemed to think the real injustice was to hold rapists and child sex traffickers accountable (and only “Black and brown” ones at that). But what about “Black and brown” victims?
It would have been interesting if Calmatters had asked Jones-Sawyer to expand on his faith and how it guides his views.
Seeing Jones-Sawyer’s many votes supporting taxes, it’s clear he took to heart Jesus’ “Give Caesar what belongs to him…” teaching. But how did faith guide his vote of support for last year’s constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access in California?
Or what did he think about drag queens who mock Catholic nuns (and Jesus, for that matter) being honored by both the Assembly?
Or maybe just get him to open up about the debate between creationism and evolution.
It’s disappointing that despite his faith, Jones-Sawyer’s positions are indistinguishable from a run-of-the-mill progressive, an ideology that’s often hostile towards Christianity.
It would be great to see more Jesus and less Bernie.
