Presuming Innocence July 27, 2003
Check-in:
Take one or two minutes to share the high point or the low point of your life since we last met.Opening Words-
Come into the circle of love and justice.
Come into the community of mercy, holiness, and health.
Come and you shall know peace and joy.
Hymnal #418 Adapted from Israel Zangwill
Innocent unless proven guilty. Our country’s legal system is based on that notion. If we can presume people accused of serious crimes innocent, then why not our friends, family members or the people we meet with on the street?
Questions:
1. Imagine that you are driving on a road where two lands are merging into one. There are at least five signs that warn you that the lanes are merging. Now a car comes speeding up the shoulder at the last minutes to try and jump in ahead of you. What is your reaction likely to be? Do you speed up and try not to let them in or do you wave them ahead?
What if you knew that he has a sick child, or a pregnant woman rushing to the hospital? What is you could grant that person innocence without knowing for sure? How would it change your everyday life?
2. Have you ever jumped to conclusions with a family member only to regret it later? How did it affect your relationship?
3. Have you ever presumed the guilt of a friend or family member? What happened? How might "presuming innocence" have changed your actions?
4. If we were to presume innocence when meeting people, lifestyles and philosophies foreign to us, how would that change our outlook on life? our actions?
5. How can we balance presuming innocence with a healthy skepticism?
Check-out
How do you feel about tonight’s gathering?
Next group-social or covenant?
Closing Words
From many different religious traditions, we were taught:
Judge not, and you will not be judged yourselves…
Do unto others, as you would have them do to you.
And now, in our chosen faith, we affirm our intention to put these words into action:
We covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person…justice, equity and compassion in human relations…