Showing mercy

An act of mercy or casting pearls before swine?

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Congregants of a church that was badly vandalized have collected "love baskets" full of electronics for the three suspects.

"The judge will give them consequences, but as a congregation we want to reach out and extend love and mercy to them," said Jason Reimer, a pastor at the South Hills Evangelical Church. "A lot of us, whether we're churchgoers or not, have been in their shoes before and have made some bad choices. But God forgives us."

Giving gifts to those who vandalized their church certainly makes a statement. I know I'd be inclined to throw the book at them. I doubt this will bring about a life chance in those teens, nor do I think it will spur them to consider spiritual things. But I guess that's not the point.

I hope those people didn't just throw away a bunch of money on three snobby, spoiled, ignorant little ingrates.