Christians and the Death Penalty

[fromtheright]

An excellent article in my favorite journal, First Things: "Christians and the Death Penalty". FWIW, I disagree with his conclusion.

 

[patrick]

Judgement without mercy and we are like everyone else.

 

[fromtheright]

One point raised by the article is that penalties for crimes are society's rules, not an individual reaction to another individual's attack on us. Would you empty the prisons? Why not? It seems like the merciful thing to do. Putting them there was an act of judgement.

 

[Johnv]

I find it ironic that we as Christians oppose abortion, but not the death penalty. That said, I'm neither in favor of, nor against, the death penalty. I definitely don't disapprove of the death penalty when used only in the most extreme cases (which it generally is). OTOH, if the death penalty were done away with tomorrow, I would not lose sleep over it at all.

 

[carpro]

To me it's simple. Abortion is the murder of the innocent and execution is the punishment of the guilty.

I would accept life at hard labor without possibility of parole as an alternative to the death penalty.

 

[Johnv]

Originally posted by carpro:
To me it's simple. Abortion is the murder of the innocent and execution is the punishment of the guilty.

Truem but when we claim to cherish life, we put conditions on that. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, just making an observation. I suspect it has more to do with pulpit politics than spirituality.

I would accept life at hard labor without possibility of parole as an alternative to the death penalty.

I would most definitely agree.

What really concerns me, though, is those Christians who say that you're not a Christian, or you're a liberal, if you even bring up the idea of having no death penalty.

 

[carpro]

Even if life without parole is a viable alternative, I do not trust our legal system enough to believe that some overzealous judge would not thwart the will of the people with a wave of his hand, and put these animals back out on the street.

 

[Rocko9]

I believe to execute a person for heinous crimes can be an act of mercy but only in such cases that the person who has commited the crime is unrepentant. Give mercy to those who truely show regret for their crime.

 

[Johnv]

Originally posted by carpro:
Even if life without parole is a viable alternative, I do not trust our legal system enough to believe that some overzealous judge would not thwart the will of the people with a wave of his hand, and put these animals back out on the street.

Penalties and restitutions are not determined based on what some overzealous judge "might" do. Otherwise, we should all be against the death penalty because some overzealous judge "might" decide with a wave of his hand to serve it to everyone despite the will of the people.

 

[carpro]

Originally posted by Johnv:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by carpro:
Even if life without parole is a viable alternative, I do not trust our legal system enough to believe that some overzealous judge would not thwart the will of the people with a wave of his hand, and put these animals back out on the street.

Penalties and restitutions are not determined based on what some overzealous judge "might" do. Otherwise, we should all be against the death penalty because some overzealous judge "might" decide with a wave of his hand to serve it to everyone despite the will of the people. </font>[/QUOTE]Agreed, but that doesn't keep it from crossing one's mind as a possibility. It's not a pleasant thought.