KB Asante: Voice From Afar column

James Holmes, killed 12 people attending the premier screening of the film 'The Dark Knight Rises' in the American city of Aurora, Colorado in 2012. The wheels of justice certainly turn slowly. It took three years for the case to come to trial. But at long last, the jury has decided.

Holmes was found guilty of murder. But the jury could not agree on whether he should be sentenced to death. He was therefore sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

A relative of one of the victims was strongly dissatisfied. He exclaimed “He is breathing but my loved one is silenced forever.” The verdict has been the comment of many in Europe and America and to me it raised the general question of the right to end life.

Has society any right over the life of the individual, and if so, what should be its responsibility for the living?

Secondly, has the individual the right to take his or her life? Does life belong to the individual or is it a gift of God which should be honoured?

The latter question falls in the domain of the theologians and I am not that competent to pronounce on it.

But I believe that if life is that sacred with divine ownership, then the churches and others who share that belief should ensure that it is worth living.

Man should not be compelled by circumstances beyond his control to live beneath the dignity ordained by God. Such a view brings politics into religion.

And naturally so. So far as religion does not concern itself only with life after death, but deals extensively with life on earth, it cannot ignore the way humans are constrained to live on earth.

The role of the state is however of concern to all of us whatever our religious beliefs and philosophies.

We should all be concerned about the death penalty for murders like the one in Colorado. Many of us would avoid the difficulty of thinking and simply say that the law allows or demands that murderers be sentenced to death.

Some would say the practice maintains justice. But does it support justice or revenge?

Is the practice not a 'natural' one which the family or community has handed over to the state?

A few considered hanging or judicial killing of murderers to be a continuation of the old practice of revenge.

This time the state carries out the revenge for the injured party. It is argued that death sentences did not stop murders or promote the desirable social order.

Changes in dealing with crimes of murder continue. Deep down however, the feeling of revenge persists in many people.

The relative of the Colorado victim in favour of revenge exclaims, “The guilty man lives, while the murdered no longer breathes.”

The view that the death penalty is not the answer to murder is however strong.

There are as many organisations for the rehabilitation of murderers as there are for the prevention of the taking of life including suicides.

Perhaps the propensity for suicides is not as great in Ghana as it is Europe and America, but living is increasingly becoming complex and very difficult.

We may not have the urge to commit suicide to avoid disgrace as our brothers in the East, but the pressures of life sometimes send many into deep mental distress and unusual behaviour.

Some illnesses also cause such strong pain and despair that the victims may consider the ending of life as the answer.

Of course we should try to support our friends and loved ones so that they do not despair of life.

I must confess I sometimes wonder what the purpose of life is for those forced into vegetative existence and those with extreme dementia.

I find it most distressing visiting friends who hardly recognise anyone or what is around them and only live because they live. I have the highest regard for the doctors, the nurses and relations who look after such people.

I feel terribly distressed when I visit friends with severe ailments.

The last time I met a friend who used to discuss with me his plans for doing great things for Ghana, I was sorely depressed. He had been confined to bed. While there, his faced changed and a light noise and smell suggested that he had soiled himself.

He was extremely embarrassed.

I got up quickly and said I had to rush to keep an appointment which was overdue.

I called the daughter and said I was leaving. She wanted to see me out but I said I had to rush to keep an appointment for which I was late.

The father wanted to see her I said. Sadly, this was to be the last time I would see him, he died shortly afterwards.

Why should the incurably ill not end their life if they so wish?

Why should we oppose the death penalty?

If we do not allow life to be taken because we believe that it is from above, what do we do to enable life to be useful and to be lived in godly dignity?

And what does society do to ensure that human beings live a dignified and responsible life?