So It's Okay If You Mean Well?

In today's Spokesman Review, we have a piece from Steve Massey (login required to read in it's entirety) in which he presents a weak argument for freeing the Americans who are charged with kidnapping for removing children from Haiti without permission.

I pray the 10 Baptist missionaries jailed in Haiti on child abduction charges are cleared soon. They deserve it.

While he says they deserve being cleared, his reasoning for doing so is uncertain especially since he emphasizes they broke the law.

They lacked government approval to take the children, some of whose parents survived the earthquake.

These missionaries broke rules that are in place to protect poor and vulnerable families.

They didn’t have to break the law in the name of helping people.

We don’t break the law just because we really feel we ought to do so.

It’s possible to help Haitian children – legally.

And why do they deserve to be cleared?

My point is this: These missionaries now sitting in a humid Haitian jail no doubt gathered up these needy kids with heartfelt compassion, believing they were providing a bit of heaven to a hellish situation.

Because they had good intentions. I would be skeptical of the "no doubt" part of that statement until the investigation is complete. As each day passes we are learning more about the group's leader, Laura Silsby, which may shed some light on her intentions. No doubt the rest of the group would not suffer unreasonably from similar scrutiny.

So while we could conjecture all day long, it remains for the facts to determine what the government of Haiti should do with these people.