Surrounded as we are by evil, and by people who choose to do evil things, it’s often tempting to think about using various types of powerful weapons to wipe out our enemies. Catholic Fundamentalism prefers another approach.
Evil people are led to do wrong by the demons within their minds. Destroying their bodies because a few tiny demons have taken over their minds is overkill. It’s as silly as burning down a 20 ton house because a pound of termites are chewing up the studs. Just as the house needs only a few ounces of bug spray to be saved, rather than a demolition crew, the spiritually-diseased mind needs precise prayers that will allow God, The Loving Programmer, to send appropriately charged spiritual being(s) into the inflicted mind and drive out the demon(s) that have taken control of it.
But, prayer requires humility, a quality missing in those who want to use bigger, more important-seeming things like jails and electric chairs and atomic bombs, rather than simply and humbly asking The Loving Programmer to direct a few sub-microscopic angels to save an otherwise lost soul. As we become more humble, we see how much better, and how much more elegant, it is to rely on God rather than on our own much cruder efforts.
