“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
(Magna Carta, 1215, Clause 39)
The Magna Carta limited due process to free men. It did not offer to all human beings the right of due process of law, but it set in motion an idea that expanded over the subsequent centuries to include, at least in the United States in the past 75 years or so, a conviction that as all people are created equal, so all are entitled to due process.
The arrest and rendition of people without any sort of legal process or outside oversight is deeply troubling, whether it happens in the United States or elsewhere around the globe. To remove a person from their liberty, their home, and their family is a grave action–one that in some cases is justified. But if it is justified, it is justifiable in front of a judge. It must be capable of standing up to outside scrutiny to be valid.
The news of the past weeks in our own nation of people being arrested, defined as terrorists, and sent to prison in other countries without any process of ensuring that the accusations were true has chilled my heart.
I am not a legal scholar, but I am a theologian and bishop who understands that every human being is made in the image of God and worthy of the integrity that accompanies their status as a human being. One facet of that integrity is for us to collectively uphold due process to ensure that we are not unnecessarily depriving any human being of their liberty, their home, and their family.
Because to do that–to deprive an innocent person of their liberty, home, and family- is a sin. It is a collective sin that implicates all of us, and for which all of us must repent.
There is something to be said for proceeding with intent and care, particularly when issues of life and death, salvation, or family integrity are at hand. In the Episcopal Church, you cannot get married, baptized, or confirmed without having spiritual preparation; you cannot be ordained without collective discernment and education.
So too, in our nation, we ought not deprive people of their liberty, their home, and their family, without significant assurance that such action is warranted.