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Originally Posted by Glava
When a judge/jury tries to find a punishment for a crime, they consider intent in their decision-making process, as mandated by law. However, the priest didn't try to punish. He had a much more practical purpose in mind - to get rid of a disturbance. Kicking out the retarded man would be equivalent to closing a classroom door because of a noisy hallway. Nobody wants to punish the hallway, but isolating yourself from it serves a very practical purpose.
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Are you equating a mentally disabled person with a hallway?! You may not know this, so I'll share something I've learned from experience. Mentally diabled people, though not always of rational mind, still have just as many feelings as any person. While this man may not have understood what was going on totally, I would be willing to bet he understood that he was being singled out in a less than friendly way. A hallway does not have rights and oes not deserve respect. This man does have feelings and does deserve respect. It isn't necessarily about punishment, it is more bassic than that. This was a response that was innapropriate. While it wasn't a punishment, it was a response that disregarded the special situation in this case. If a child is being loud, the child is removed by a parent. The pastor does not stop the service and ask the child to leave. Can you imagine how frightening and embarassing that would be for the child? The same is true of this man.