I promise I had no idea until about two weeks ago. That’s the question I asked my wife when all the fun political arguments on cable news networks were being taken over by people bickering about what should be done on the prosecution or defense. So I started watching the Food Network again.

Then someone from a local media outlet asked me to write an opinion piece on the Casey Anthony verdict. Seriously? I’m the last person to ask about stuff like that. I honestly don’t have an opinion. She got a fair trial. I understand a ton of people are upset about her walking free and yeah, she’s smiling now when she walks in the court room. Of course she is. Who wouldn’t be after finding out your not going to be receiving the death penalty or spending the rest of your life in jail? Is she supposed to spend the rest of he life with that droopy, pitiful, I’m-the-victim-please-don’t-kill-me face the rest of her life. It was probably her defense attorney’s idea for her to put on whatever show we got from her the past several months. It’s like this kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday. Didn’t you watch Matlock?

Here is what I sent in. Doubt very seriously they will print it:

When high profile controversial cases like Casey Anthony’s deluges the headlines, everyone wants to know how the faith community will respond. Maybe it would better to say should respond. It’s also interesting to note the extraordinary attention placed on a quite ordinary court case that in reality only effects one person when there is another case pending verdict at the same time involving a 15 year-old girl being tried for the alleged murder of her still born child due to her cocaine addiction that could have implications across the nation. In either case, my opinion is the same. We have a court system, with all it’s glory and gaffs, that works exactly as it is intended. If one side makes the case more soundly than the other, bad people can go free, innocent people can be punished, or justice can be served. The sourness of any outcome is that we need a court system at all. The laws are not in place for those that obey them but for those we know will inevitably break them. If there is a place in a mother’s heart to kill her child, it is only because she knows not love. The response of the Church should be to get up and get out to those hurting, suffering, lonely, depressed, lost, angry, and broken people and give them hope, help them find joy, and show them what real true love looks like.

It’s probably true most churches do a real good job helping their people and a pretty poor job helping people like Casey Anthony and Rennie Gibbs. If the results of our court system bothers you, then maybe it’s time to start investing the hope and grace of Jesus Christ into your community so more and more life-change happens and cases like these start to disappear.