#PresumptionOfInnocence

The entire western world has moved forward, in the legal realm, for over one thousand years under the system of the presumption of innocence. The statue 'Lady Justice' is blindfolded holding the scales of justice in her hands. The blindfold suggests that she cannot see the color, ethnicity, sex, financial status or anything else about the person standing before her. She is waiting to hear the evidence to be placed on the scales of justice and weighed when all the facts are in.

We cannot be prejudicial, ever, in our courts and ever say that any person does not deserve the presumption of innocence because of any circumstance or condition. That one thing would devastate the whole of western civilization and the rule of law which has been in part of making America unique.

The presumption of innocence works in all relationships, between friends, in marriage, at work. Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth after counseling them against bringing lawsuits against brothers and sisters of the church, points out in 1st Corinthians 13 the thing that does work - love. Now you may say, 'What's love got to do with it?' There are four descriptive verses that tell what love is, does and does not do. There is one phrase that has baffled some. This phrase - 'believes all things' -
has been used to discredit adherents by calling them dupes, naive, gullible and undiscriminating. What this phrase is saying is that love gives the benefit of a doubt or in other words presumes they are innocent until evidence proves the contrary. Love doesn't jump to conclusions.

You may question whether love has anything to do with  justice. The one thing held in common by both love and justice is blindness. When love is blind all sorts of bad things can happen because the ability to pursue evidence is usually lost and lovers are willing to believe just about anything, but justice requires evidence to function and lets the chips fall where they may.

May we be a people who love justice and fight for truth in all our affairs. May we be able to discern when people are pulling our strings using emotion rather than facts. Emotions do not fit on the scales of justice - only the facts, just the facts, mam.