The modern concept of universal jurisdiction allows countries all over the world to prosecute people for crimes against humanity (think of arrest warrants out in various countries for folks like Henry Kissinger and Don Rumsfeld). Can it be stretched not only across international borders but across the eons of time? Kenya may find out as (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars) a group there has petitioned the Kenyan courts to declare the execution of Jesus "illegal." A group called "Friends of Jesus" is behind the petition:
The FOJ includes Kenyan lawyers and wealthy businessmen who view their worldly fortune in this east African country, where half the population lived below the poverty line as a gift from God.Jurisdictional issues aside, there appear to be some theological ones to work out, too. I'm not a Biblical scholar by any stretch, but wasn't the idea that God sent Jesus to Earth as a sacrifice to wash clean the sins of mankind? In other words - doesn't he have to die in the end? It seems like harmless error (at best) if his execution was "illegal."
The FOJ's lawyer Humphrey Odanga said Jesus' Crucifixion was a wrongful punishment for a trial based on charges of 'blaspheming the Holy Spirit' and should be corrected by modern law.
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One member said: 'We need the court to clarify, for the record, that Jesus was not a criminal. He advocated for the rule of law. Do you mean to worship a convicted criminal?'
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