christianity and the death penalty

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One of the fundamental issues I have with Christianity is the premise that killing an innocent person somehow mitigates the crime of another: somehow is accepted by the arbiter of justice as being 'just.' In this light, I wonder if the overt Christianity of this country is part of why we're one of the few western countries still to accept the death penalty. Not the 'eye for an eye' issue, as is so often pointed out, but the idea that justice is about punishing someone, anyone, when a crime is committed, and if we get the wrong person... oh well, they're playing the role of Christ and somehow they clean the stain off the actual criminal, as long as said criminal feels guilty about it.

When I was a Christian (the Catholic type at first and then Quaker) it was made certain to me that all killing of humans was an abomination in the eyes of God. Both churches are very against the death penalty.

I think support for the death penalty is more of a mainline Protestant and evangelical thing. So not all Christians, but admittedly most of the ones in the USA, will be more inclined to support it.

I didn't know that's what American Christians tend to believe about innocent people dying. Christ, to most Christians, is God, so it wasn't just a matter of some innocent vulnerable human being condemned. It was God taking on a sacrificial role that only he could fulfill for the sake of mankind.

I am firmly against the death penalty. I have spoken to some chaps who are in favour of it and the case they put forward is actually quite interesting. There is a firm separate between state law and personal laws in the Bible. For myself I see this as the Bible's authors being compatible with the times they were living in, people back then did keep slaves etc. However, over time, the overall tone of Christian morality has been progressive, albeit with a signifiant amount of Niebuhr's rejection of earthly utopia (really where theism broke from the secular progressive movements in my view). Thus, over time we have been strived for better ethics and for myself I think we are at the point where we can put the death penalty in the dustbin of history.

I am a Christian and in favor of the death penalty; however, I don't support the killing of innocents.

If a criminal is clearly guilty of a heinous crime, I support the death penalty. Clear guilt must be demonstrated by physical evidence, not just circumstantial evidence. I believe there should be a standard of evidence above reasonable doubt to get the death penalty.

But when someone does something heinous, like tying his wife to the bed and burning the house down, and it's clear guilt, he should be executed.

I have never, ever heard of anyone saying that it doesn't matter whether or not we punish the wrong person, as long as somebody gets punished, and I've never heard any Christian say that the role of Christ in the crucifixion is easy to step into or that it should be involuntarily handed out to someone.

I lean towards supporting the death penalty, although there are some very good arguments against it.

I was raised Catholic and I'm trying to think of an example of what the OP is talking about.

Then you have a problem. Given the essential inaccuracy of our so-called justice system there are bound to be innocent individuals falsely convicted and put to death for no just cause. How do you care to regard this? As "friendly fire"?

All of the social requirements that the death penalty satisfies can be obtained by imprisonment for life. If we had penal colonies the people sentenced to live in these places could do much of their own life support and cut down on the expenses to society.

ruveyn

You are getting into deep issues.

1. The Bible makes it clear that the taking of an INNOCENT life is punishable by death.

2. Modern society DOES NOT impose capital punishment for a lot of things it is required for in the Bible.

3. Taking a life when done by due process of law of a person who commits heinous crimes is not a sin.

Now, you have a better argument against capital punishment by arguing the flaws and inequities of the legal system, but not because it is morally wrong.

That is a good argument. However, I have never personally been able to mount an effective defence to the person who is in favour of the death penalty for someone who kills and already has nothing to lose. Say the person has 100+ years of a sentence left and kill a prison guard, how do we ask someone else to guard him? How do we act then? It is a logical extreme but still an interesting case that I need to think more about.

I do think however there are other good arguments against capital punishment aside from the fact that it can and does kill the innocent also. I don't believe I should ever take someone's future away, time has possibilities, for redemption for justice and if they die alone in a cell having learned nothing then we did all we could for them.

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I dont know where she gets that from either.

Not an apologist for either the death penalty nor for evangelical christianity. But Ive never heard an evangelical, or any christian, say 'we need to execute somebody- even the wrong person- to avenge a murder".

While this country was based on Biblical principles - slavery, subjugation of women, and conquest by genocide - the term "Christian Values" has been misapplied so often to non-Christian practices that the term has lost its original meaning. Matthew, the tax collector, wrote these Christian values:

It seems that "Mercy" - an original Christian value - is no longer considered important, and has largely been forgotten.

Reference: Matthew 5:1-12 (NIV)

Where they are merciful to the unjust, then soon will be unjust to the merciful

"Kill them all and let God sort them out." -- Arnaud Amalric (b.???? / d.1225)

Yup. Putting down the Cathar Heresy was a hoot.

All I can say to that is that it is largely wishful thinking.

A person who does something worthy of capital punishment has FUBARed their life so much that they will NEVER have a future to live for, and that makes the massive presumption that they will ever rehabilitate.

If you work with people, especially criminals, you will find that some people (more that you would want to realize) seem to cross that line where they will never choose to come back. For those types, mercy is a nice concept, but all it produces is the mercy giver being exploited by the criminal for personal gain.

If you ever get to work in a prison (or talk to those who do), they will tell you that they can tell who is "redeemable" and who is not. It's obvious in how the inmate acts both when watched and not watched. They can tell who will go right back to crime once released and who have a chance of reintegrating into society.

Correctional systems should offer the means of rehabilitation for those sincere about wanting it but otherwise remain institutions of punishment for violating society's rules.