Tre Arrow, accused of setting fire to logging and concrete trucks in Oregon, is on a hunger strike. Maybe they don’t recycle enough in the prison system and he’s trying to make a point. Who really cares? Once Arrow abandoned his inspirational and non-violent style of leadership for a strategy of blowing things up he lost the support of those who care about the environment.

Unfortunately, Arrow’s fate is a little too complicated to completely ignore. If Arrow deserves to be in jail so do those who continue to rape the environment and instead of receiving punishment get rewarded by profit. Corporate polluters have done much more damage than Arrow and his cohorts. Lee Griffith wrote in The Fall of the Prison: Biblical Perspectives on Prison Abolition that:

The prophets seemed especially aware of how an individualized view of crime inevitably favored the rich who were able to purchase the enactment of the statutes they desired (Isa. 10:1-2) and bribe their way to acquittal (Mic. 7:3; Amos 5:12).

Arrow will likely end up in jail. My guess is that Arrow’s use of violence would only continue to escalate if he were left without some sort of supervision.

On the other side of the spectrum, polluters continue to help write energy and environmental laws in Washington with the help of a friendly White House. This will spur (hopefully) more non-violent protest, but it might also sadly spur more eco-terrorists like Arrow. We exist in a reciprocal ethos that allows violence to be considered a legitimate response to violence. Christians must stand in opposition to this.

Arrow deserves to be brought to justice. But I’m not sure I trust the federal or state governments to really know what justice looks like. If they did maybe more of the polluters would be rooming with Arrow in his cell. They could all fast together and repent of their sins.