The death penalty

Policies of various religious groups

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There are 16 large religious groupings in the U.S., each of which have over 1 million adherents. This includes 12 Christian faith groups, Islam, Judaism, Atheism; and NOTAs (persons who are NOT Affiliated with a religious group).

Various Christian groups have taken opposite views on the death penalty:

Fundamentalist evangelical and other conservative denominations tend to be supportive of the death penalty (a.k.a. the retentionist position). Exceptions are the Mennonites and Amish. Some have pointed out an apparent contradiction here. Conservative Protestants tend to be pro-life and opposed to abortion access. Yet they generally favor capital punishment, which involve the taking of a life. Conservatives generally defend their position by pointing out that they are opposed to the taking of innocent human life, like an embryo, fetus, newborn, child, etc. But a person sitting on death row awaiting execution is not innocent; they have been found guilty of murder -- often multiple murders.

The Roman Catholic Church and mainline & liberal denominations tend to be abolitionist (i.e. opposed to the death penalty).

Support for capital punishment among the general public is higher that one would expect from the positions of American religious groups. The membership of the various denominations appear to support capital punishment more than their own faith groups do.

What would Jesus do (WWJD)?

As with so many other moral, ethical, and religious topics, the Bible is ambiguous on whether Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) was a retentionist or an abolitionist:

• Jesus was a retentionist: In Matthew 5:18, Jesus referred to the Mosaic Law as defined in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). He is quoted as saying

  "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

  In Luke 16:17 he is quoted as saying:

  "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."

  Jots and tittles were very small punctuation marks used in ancient Hebrew.

  There were dozens of activities considered worthy of the death penalty in the Old Testament's Mosaic Code, including a woman being a non-virgin when she married, a female who was raped in a city and did not cry out for help, teaching unorthodox religious beliefs, men engaging in some same-gender sexual activities -- which ones are not clear -- and murder. One might assume that Jesus approved of executing people who were found guilty of these "crimes."

• Jesus was an abolitionist: John 8:1-11 describes that while teaching a crowd at the Mount of Olives, the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman to who had been found to have committed adultery. This was a capital offense at the time. They asked whether the sentence required by the Mosaic Law should be carried out and the woman stoned to death. Jesus said that whichever of them is without sin let him cast the first stone at her. They all slinked away, one by one. Jesus told her to go and sin no more.

Additional information:

	Generally speaking, liberal religious groups are abolitionist, while conservative faith groups are retentionist. Exceptions are The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints (the main Mormon denomination) and the Assemblies of God which have not taken an official position. 5
	The National Council of the Churches of Christ (NCC), an umbrella group of mainline and liberal Christian churches is abolitionist. 20 The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is retentionist. 21
	The Christian Coalition and their successors, Christian Reconstructionists, and large numbers of small conservative denominations and independent churches strongly support the death penalty.
	Four small groups: the Mennonites, Amish, Society of Friends (Quakers), and Unitarian Universalists have historically been among the most active groups in opposition to the death penalty.
	The American Friends Service Committee's Criminal Justice Program maintains a list of faith and ethical groups which are opposed to the death penalty They include: American Baptists, American Ethical Union, American Friends Service Committee, America Jewish Committee, Amnesty International, The Bruderhof Communities, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Disciples of Christ, Church of the Brethren, Church Women United, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends United Meeting, General Conference of General Baptists, General Conference of Mennonite Church, Mennonite Church, Moravian Church in America, YWCA, Orthodox Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Rabbinical Assembly, Reformed Church in America, Reorganized Church, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and the United States Catholic Conference.
	In the past, the Roman Catholic Church accepted capital punishment in some unusual circumstances. Section 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church stated:

"Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor."

"If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person."

"Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself, the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity 'are very rare, if not practically non-existent'." _22,23

There have been Catholic groups recently advocating for the complete abolition of the death penalty:

• During 2009, a synod of African Catholic bishops called for a "total and universal abolition of the death penalty."
  
  
• During 2015, four major Catholic media outlets in the U.S. published a joint editorial calling for abolition.
  
  
• On 2018-JUL-26, Pope Francis declared the death penalty wrong in all cases, because they are "an attack" on human dignity. He said that the Church would work "with determination" to abolish capital punishment worldwide. ₂₄

Pope Francis' statement will heavily impact Roman Catholics in the U.S. where most Catholics favor the death penalty. A Pew Research Center poll in early 2018 found that 53% of Catholics are in favor, while 42% oppose it. Catholics differ little from all U.S. adults where 54% favor and 39% oppose executions. ₂₅ Although the country has a powerful pro-life movement, it has traditionally concentrated only on abolishing abortions of embryos and fetuses and has largely ignored executions of adults.

John Gehring, the Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group in Washington, said:

"If you’re a Catholic governor who thinks the state has the right to end human life, you need to be comfortable saying you’re disregarding orthodox church teaching. There isn’t any loophole for you to wiggle through now."

Prominent abolitionist, Sister Helen Prejean, said:

"It’s a happy day. I’m clicking my heels. What I’m particularly delighted about is there’s no loopholes. It’s unconditional. ... [But] This is just a change in the doctrine, and it’s on paper. We’ve still got to move it into the pews and make it active."

Governor Pete Ricketts (R) of Nebraska is a Catholic and a death penalty supporter. He said that he will not block an execution scheduled for this month in his state. ₂₇

Amnesty International reports that most executions across the world occur in one of five mostly Muslim countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan. The U.S. is the eighth country in the world, in terms of the number of executions. ₂₄

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, as of mid-2018, 19 U.S. states have abolished executions: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In addition, governors in Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington have imposed moratoriums on their state's use of the death penalty. ₂₄

During 2017, only eight states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Virginia) actually executed death row prisoners in the U.S. This compared with 20 states in 1999. ₂₆

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "A Good Friday appeal to end the death penalty," United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at: http://www.nccbuscc.org/ This and many other documents are linked to "Catholic Social Thought: Online Resources" under the topic of Capital Punishment, at: http://www.saintmarys.edu/
2. "Resolution No. 5 on capital punishment," Southern Baptist Convention, at: http://www.tnbaptist.org/
3. "American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.: Resolution on Capital Punishment," at: http://www.deathpenaltyreligious.org/
4. "United Methodist Church: Capital Punishment," at: http://www.deathpenaltyreligious.org/
5. Caryle Murphy, : 'Eye for an Eye' Challenges Faithful," Washington Post, 2007-MAY-12, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
6. "A social statement on the death penalty," at: http://www.elca.org/
7. "Report on Capital Punishment," Commission on Theology and Church Relations of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. Originally published in the Lutheran Witness, 1976-MAY-16.
8. "Prominent religious leaders urge Bush to enact a moratorium on federal executions," Citizens for a Moratorium on Federal Executions, 2001?, at: http://federalmoratorium.com/
9. Estimates of the total population of Muslims vary greatly from about 6 million (by Muslim organizations) to about 3 million (from public opinion polls).
10. "Shattering ten misconceptions about Islam," at: http://www.usc.edu/
11. The American Atheists have not taken a position on the death penalty. However, an essay by its president Ellen Johnson opposing the death penalty is at: http://www.americanatheist.org/
12. "Public Issues: Capital Punishment," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at: http://www.lds.org/
13. "Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Continuing opposition to capital punishment," at: http://www.deathpenaltyreligious.org/
14. "Re: Presbyterians and the death penalty," at: http://venus.soci.niu.edu/ This includes a statement by the Episcopal Church.
15. "Report of the Commission on Christian Action," at: http://www.rca.org/
16. George D. Chryssides, "New Light, Conscience and Jehovah©s Witnesses," Center for Studies on New Religions, 2002-JUN, at: http://www.cesnur.org/
17. "Civil and human rights," at: http://www.ucc.org/
18. Estimates of the number of Neopagans also vary greatly They are growing at a very rapid pace. They may well have reached 1 million member by now.
19. Wiccans and other Neopagans have a vast range of religious beliefs, practices, and social beliefs. An essay by a Wiccan opposed to the death penalty is at: "Wicca and the Death Penalty," at: http://www.homestead.com/
20. "National church bodies share historic opposition to death," at http://www.wfn.org/
21. "Capital Punishment," at: http://www.nae.net/
22. "Section 2267, Catechism of the Catholic Church," United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at: http://www.usccb.org/
23. John Paul II, "Evangelium vitae,"  56. at: http://www.vatican.va/
24. Elisabetta Povoledo & Laurie Goodstein "Pope Francis Declares Death Penalty Unacceptable in All Cases," New York Times, 2018-AUG-02, at: https://www.nytimes.com/
25. Baxter Oliphant, "Public support for the death penalty ticks up," Pew Research Center, 2018-JUN-11, at: http://www.pewresearch.org/
26. David Masci, "5 facts about the death penalty," Pew Research Center, 2018-AUG-02, at: http://www.pewresearch.org/
27. Editorial Board, "Thou Shalt Not Kill," New York Times, 2018-AUG-03, at: https://www.nytimes.com/

Copyright © 2001 to 2018 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JUL-3
Latest update: 2018-AUG-06
Author: B.A. Robinson

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