Christianity and capital punishment
Christians argue both for and against the death penalty using secular arguments (see Ethics: Capital punishment), but like other religious people they often make an additional case based on the tenets of their faith.

For much of history, the Christian Churches accepted that capital punishment was a necessary part of the mechanisms of society.

Pope Innocent III, for example, put forward the proposition: "The secular power can, without mortal sin, exercise judgment of blood, provided that it punishes with justice, not out of hatred, with prudence, not precipitation."

The Roman Catechism, issued in 1566, stated that the power of life and death had been entrusted by God to the civil authorities. The use of this power did not embody the act of murder, but rather a supreme obedience to God's commandments.

In the high Middle Ages and later, the Holy See authorized that heretics be turned over to the secular authorities for execution.

The law of Vatican City from 1929 to 1969 included the death penalty for anyone who tried to assassinate the Pope.

Research done in the 1990s in the USA found that Protestants (who interpret the Bible to be the literal word of God) were more likely to be in favour of the death penalty than members of other religious factions and denominations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christianethics/capitalpunishment_print.html

Do we have the right to take a life? What makes us any different than the murderers who take lives if we take their life? If someone killed your loved ones would you be inclined to take their life or would you leave it in God's hands?
How do you feel about the death penalty and would your opinion be changed if a loved one was involved? What if the murderer were a loved one?
Always a pleasure

I dont believe that religious orders or beliefs should have any particular influence one way or another on the use of capital punishment. The problem is that beliefs are too powerful and not necessarily based on logic. However many religions include ethical belief structures within their codified wisdom, including the judaeo christian model, and these can be given some weighting in formulating policy, because they enshrine at the very least an historical social perspective on crime and punishment.
Personally(and as far as i can deduce this has no attachment to my "religious" experiences because i held the same beliefs as an athiest/secular humanist,) I have absolutely no problem with capital punishment for quite a range of offences.

Things which need to be taken into account include the degree of proof in a conviction. Unless this is close to absolute then the death penalty may result in the wrong person being executed. While it is hard to accurately measure; both the degree of premeditation and the degree of remorse, along with the chance of reformation may influence the actual application of the death penalty, even where it is sentenced.'

A lot of peole simply need to be removed from society on a permanent basis. I dont see the need for society to feed and clothe them for the rest of their natural lives, where the death penaly is appropriate.

I know that my beliefs come from an underlying failure to accept the idea that human life is innately sacred. Many people display by their behaviours that there is nothing sacred in them, even if in general terms humans are created in the image of a god. That god has always explicity stated that both he and the delegated powers of any society have the authority to remove life where people break the laws of god or society in ways which can harm either individuals or the basic structure of society.

For example i would execute anyone who killed another by selling them drugs. I would execute anyone who killed another through drunk driving . I would certainly execute anyone who set out to deliberately harm individuals or groups, whether they were ultimately successful or not. I think a viable society needs to find effective ways to remove such elements from itself.

Because individualism has become such a powerful social force in western societies this is not likely to happen. While I do not like some elements of islamic law, i do think that in this area they see things a lot more logically and clearly than many western societies. The existence of many crimes found rampant in western societies is almost unknown in many islamic countries.

Of course education and socially responsible behaviour is the ultimate weapon against crime, but in our societies, efforts in this direction are nullified by our legal codes and social attitudes. We do not, any where near enough, teach and discipline our children to look at how their actions may affect others, and to modify their behaviour to take this into account.

In principle I agree with the death penalty. In practice I do not.

I believe that there are crimes which should be punishable by death. But I think our Justice system is way too flawed to carry it out. Even in cases where it appear an open-and-shut case, there is no guarantee that the accused is guilty. Our prison system is filled with the jailed innocent. Consider for a moment Timothy Evans. In 1950, he turned himself into the police and confessed to murdering his wife. He first claimed to have given her some abortion pills, after which she died. Then he claimed his neighbour, John Christie, had offered to help give an abortion, after which his wife died. The body (and his baby daughter's body) was found after a search - they had both been strangled. The story changed again, and he claimed he strangled them both after arguing over some debts. Though only officially ever charged with the murder of his daughter, during the trial, he again reverted to the original story that Christie was the killer.

Naturally, it seemed obvious that Evans was guilty, and so was convicted and hanged.

Three years later, a new tenent finds the bodies of three prostitutes, and after a police search, yet three more are found, including Christie's wife. During the interrogation, Christie admits to the murder that Evans was convicted of. See full story here.

As humans we can never know the whole story. We cannot see into the heart to know whether a person is telling the truth or not. "Beyond reasonable doubt" never means "100% certainty".

However, if anyone ever could know everything about a person, right down to the deepest recesses of the heart, then they could sit in judgement over others and pronounce a penalty of death. No human can do this, so in practice I cannot condone the death penalty in our society. God, however, can see straight to the heart, and therefore can pronounce the death penalty if required. But we won't get that until Judgement Day.

Just a few thoughts to consider

~ Regards, PA

Hey can I ask(PA or anyone).. is there anywhere in the Bible where Jesus Christ says 'thou shall kill'... or something along those lines? I'm not sure which is why I'm asking.

In my opinion, there are "some" instances when a death sentence should be mandatory in our society. Examples could be the "Anita Cobby murders", as described in this URL. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/cob...5081070060.html

The troubling thing in my mind is -- at that time the youngest participant was only 14 years old; so, should his immature age exclude HIM from the death sentence? In my opinion death should have been pronounced upon all the other participants. Does this opinion make me merciless, in the eyes of God?



Hard to argue against what you posted here, PA.



Hhmmm -- what is "Judgment Day"?
There are many interpretations for this. Maybe this could be a new subject-thread? Since I am not all that familiar with UM procedures, I would appreciate more input on this.

Obviously there is no specific statement that one person should kill another person, in the "New Testament" writings, even though there are many such laws in "the old".

Maybe the answer to your question could depend on what you mean by "killing" another human being? Murder, execution of murderers, killing during war, and so on.

Consider the many possibilities.

Well for any of those possibilities... So for any of those examples you gave above(war, execution etc).. did Jesus Christ say it was ok sometimes?

So is there any quotes from Christ that say you should kill sometimes? (or was that a no?).

I've heard He wasnt there to change the laws or something but I'm more after quotes from Him that say its ok to kill. And if there isnt any, doesnt that kinda say something.

Here is the rest of the article.

In favour of the death penalty

It's in the Bible

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed

Old Testament
The death penalty is consistent with Old Testament Biblical teaching, and suggests that God created the death penalty.

In total, the Old Testament specifies 36 capital offences including crimes such as idolatry, magic and blasphemy, as well as murder.

But many Christians don't think that is a convincing argument - they say that there are 35 capital offences, in addition to murder, described in the Old Testament. As these are no longer capital offences, Christians say it is inconsistent to preserve murder alone as a capital crime.


New Testament
The New Testament embodies what must be the most famous execution in history, that of Jesus on the cross. But paradoxically, although the tone of the whole of the New Testament is one of forgiveness, it seems to take the right of the state to execute offenders for granted.

• In Matthew 7:2 we read "Whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you", though this is unspecific as to whether it is God who is doing the dealing, or the state.
• In Matthew 15:4 Jesus says "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die".
• Despite the fact that Jesus himself refrains from using violence, he at no point denies the state's authority to exact capital punishment.
• At the moment that Pilate has to decide whether or not to crucify Jesus, Jesus tells him that the power to make this decision has been given to him by God. (John 19:11).
• Paul has an apparent reference to the death penalty, when he writes that the magistrate who holds authority "does not bear the sword in vain; for he is the servant of God to execute His wrath on the wrongdoer" (Romans 13:4).
• Capital punishment affirms the commandment that 'thou shalt not kill' by affirming the seriousness of the crime of murder.

This argument is based on interpreting the commandment as meaning "thou shalt not murder", but some Christians argue that the 'Thou shalt not kill' commandment is an absolute prohibition on killing.


God authorises the death penalty
Christians who support the death penalty often do so on the ground that the state acts not on its own authority but as the agent of God, who does have legal power over life and death.

This argument is well expressed by St Augustine, who wrote:

The same divine law which forbids the killing of a human being allows certain exceptions, as when God authorises killing by a general law or when He gives an explicit commission to an individual for a limited time.

Since the agent of authority is but a sword in the hand, and is not responsible for the killing, it is in no way contrary to the commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill' to wage war at God's bidding, or for the representatives of the State's authority to put criminals to death, according to law or the rule of rational justice.

Capital punishment is like suicide
This argument is that the criminal, by choosing to commit a particular crime has also chosen to surrender his life to the state if caught.

Even when there is question of the execution of a condemned man, the State does not dispose of the individual's right to life. In this case it is reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned person of the enjoyment of life in expiation of his crime when, by his crime, he has already dispossessed himself of his right to life.

Against the death penalty

Only God should create and destroy life
This argument is used to oppose abortion and euthanasia as well.

Many Christians believe that God commanded "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 21:13), and that this is a clear instruction with no exceptions.

St. Augustine didn't agree, and wrote in The City of God:

The same divine law which forbids the killing of a human being allows certain exceptions, as when God authorizes killing by a general law or when He gives an explicit commission to an individual for a limited time.

Since the agent of authority is but a sword in the hand, and is not responsible for the killing, it is in no way contrary to the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" to wage war at God's bidding, or for the representatives of the State's authority to put criminals to death, according to law or the rule of rational justice.

But a modern Franciscan writer says there should be no exceptions to "thou shalt not kill".

In light of the word of God, and thus of faith, life--all human life--is sacred and untouchable. No matter how heinous the crimes ... [the criminal] does not lose his fundamental right to life, for it is primordial, inviolable, and inalienable, and thus comes under the power of no one whatsoever.

The Bible teaching is inconsistent
The Bible speaks in favour of the death penalty for murder. But it also prescribes it for 35 other crimes that we no longer regard as deserving the death penalty. In order to be consistent, humanity should remove the death penalty for murder.

Secondly, modern society has alternative punishments available which were not used in Biblical times, and these make the death penalty unnecessary.


Christianity is based on forgiveness and compassion
Capital punishment is incompatible with a teaching that emphasises forgiveness and compassion.


Capital punishment is biased against the poor
Some Christians argue that in many countries the imposition of the death penalty is biased against the poor. Since Christian teaching is to support the poor, Christians should not support the death penalty.


Abolition is in line with support for life
Capital punishment is inconsistent with the general Christian stand that life should always be supported. This stand is most often taught in issues such as abortion and euthanasia, but consistency requires Christians to apply it across the board.


Catholic Church

The Catholic Church and capital punishment
Throughout the first half of the twentieth century the consensus amongst Catholic theologians remained in favour of capital punishment in those cases deemed suitably extreme. Until 1969, the Vatican had a penal code that included the death penalty for anyone who attempted to assassinate the Pope.

However, by the end of this century opinions were changing. In 1980, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops published an almost entirely negative statement on capital punishment, approved by a majority vote of those present, though not by the required two-thirds majority of the entire conference.

In 1997 the Vatican announced changes to the Catechism, thus making it more in line with John Paul II's 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life. The amendments include the following statement concerning capital punishment:

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 offence 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 rare, if not practically non-existent.

Not that I can recall. I would probably go as far as to say that it is actually the opposite - Judge not. But this is in context of our day-to-day behaviour. It would take a pretty radical view of the Bible to view this in the same light as the authorities imposing their Justice System on a convicted criminal. They are totally different things.

As i said in my previous post, I think humans are way to flawed to carry out any kind of capital punishment. If we look at it from a purely Christian point of view, then all sins are worthy of death and if we put the worst killers to death then we should put us all to death. But because we also have our own societal standards to go by, we see some sins as worse than others, and there are some which are so horrible that it would seem the only recourse is to repay blood for blood.

But then we arrive back at the question I asked in my first post - how can we be sure that we have the right guy? Our system is far too flawed to guarantee that the person being put to death is guilty. It's pretty hard to pardon a dead person, though our history is riddled with examples where this exact thing has happened (little comfort to the relatives of the dead person though).

My support of the death penalty could only be condoned if the Judge/Jury were fully able to search the deepest recesses of our hearts with unfailing accuracy. And from a Christian point of view, I could go further and say that only a person who has not sinned (and therefore is not worthy of death himself) is able to carry out this judgement. Only God fits that criteria.

~ PA

What troubles me is two-fold. On one hand, as a Christian I believe that all sin leads to Death, and therefore to Judge these murderers as worthy of death would be to condemn myself as a fellow sinner as worthy of death. God sees all sin as the same, and while our human sensibilities sees a difference between murder and other sins, God does not. To God, being angry with your brother (not literal "brother", but in the generic sense) is the same as murder. If you have ever been angry with someone, if you have ever wished someone dead, then you have also committed murder in your heart. From God's eternal perspective you deserve the same punishment as the Anita Cobby killers.

The other issue I have with this is that even though the convicted may be seen to be guilty, this is not necessarily the case. As I said before, Timothy Evans appeared guilty. Yet he was not. His case is not alone. Searching for details on Capital Punishment has been a little hard considering that the Death Penalty has been rescinded in many countries for decades. In England (the country that I could find very tangible results for), it has been abolished since 1965. But before that.... :

February 27, 1947: Walter Rowland is hanged at Manchester for the murder of Olive Balchin after consistently maintaining his innocence. While he had been awaiting execution, another man had confessed to the crime. A Home Office report dismissed his confession as a fake, but in 1951 this man attacked another woman and was found guilty but insane.

March 9, 1950: Timothy Evans is hanged at Pentonville for the murder of his baby daughter. John Christie, an inhabitant at the same address, was later found to be a sexual serial killer (he gave key evidence against Evans). Christie was executed in 1953 for the murder of his own wife. Evans received a posthumous pardon in 1966.

March 28, 1950: George Kelly, hung for murder. Conviction overturned in June 2003.

September 3, 1952: Mahmood Hussein Mattan, a Somali seaman, is hanged for murder. The Court of Appeal quashes his conviction in 1998 when it is revealed that evidence absolving Mattan was withheld at trial.

January 28, 1953: Derek Bentley, executed. Conviction overturned July 30, 1998.

I'm not saying the Anita Cobby killers were innocent. In all probability they were guilty. But how do we as flawed human beings implement a system that by its very nature cannot overturn the conviction. A postmortem pardon is not very comforting to relatives and friends.

So why bring up Anita Cobby? Agreed that the case is exceptional and as a human I can definitely see the logic in getting rid of the perpetrators of this crime, but for the aforementioned reason I could not condone it.

Judgement Day is definitely a subject that warrants its own thread. But the.... err, short short version (lol @ Spaceballs) is that Judgement Day is the coming Day of Jesus' return and his Judgement of all who have lived and are living. On this Day, we will all be judged according to what we have done, and those whose names are not found in the Book of Life will be found guilty and punished with eternal death (not "eternal punishment" as many believe).

That's as how I believe anyway.

~ Paranoid Android

Thanks. I honestly dont know the bible very well at all and I was just curious on it, so thankyou.

It's just I think if Christ(and if your 'Christian' you follow Christ and not the Bible so much, imo).. So to me if He doesnt or didnt teach about killing then I think thats an important message. Otherwise I would think there would be at least one quote(from Him) that might say He supported it in some way.



And thanks for the rest of the artical Sandee.

although I agree with P.A. that all sin is a condemable offense in the eyes of God, hence we're all condemed before we accept Jesus as Savior... I still say that God does distinguish severity of sin, because he himself determined the different punishments for each when he gave us the law....some required only burnt offering and sacrafices others require execution, clearly God distinguishes between the severity of sin. Therefore, to agree with the death penalty is not grounds to feel guilty but grounds to simply say I agree with God's decree for justice for such a crime in this world.

Well, yeah. And it has to do with adultery, fornication, bestiality, same sex sex, and maybe a couple more like 'If you kill with the sword, you shall die by the sword,' etc.

I didn't have time to read all the replies already posted, so if someone said this already then I offer my apologies.

Since the thread is specifically about Christianity and Capital Punishment, I'll offer this up:

Part of the reason people are pro death penalty is becuase of the incorrect notion that it reduces crime. Texas, which is the leading state for killing people, still has one of the highest murder rates.

It's plain and simple: Killing a criminal to warn others that they should not commit the same crime doesn't work.

I mean, JESUS CHRIST (TONS of pun intended) I can think of several times in history where crucifying a person didn't get the point across...........

I seriously doubt that any super intelligent being would expect people to live exactly as they did 2,000 years ago today.

I tend to agree with you that killing someone as a punishment for killing is not very imaginative. PA has a point to though that we should not have to cloth and feed someone their whole lives either.
So what is the answer? An eye for an eye, A tooth for a tooth,


Leviticus 24:20 (New International Version)
20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injure.

I am not sure what the answer is but as PA says there is little comfort in a postmortem pardon. We as human beings can't really be 100% sure if we did not see the crime with our own eyes we will never know for sure. God however does know and maybe thats why judgement should be left up to God alone.
If one of our loved ones were killed we could have a very different view though. For us to try and put ourselves in the shoes of the victims families is useless as we could never understand that pain unless it were ours. Same goes for the families of the murderers their families are left with indescribable grief also. Taking ones life does not just affect one person but many people and that should be paid for. By whom I do not know but in the end God will judge them and they will pay.
Always a pleasure

Does america not already have capital punishment. I for one agree with it and think it should be introduced in the UK. Here there are radio shows and tv shows about the topic all the time, and the consensus of opinion want it re-intorduced. Most of them are not even religious or have any affilliaton with religion, but they still want the death penalty. Largely because there seems to be no deterrent in society against murder and the way ruthless murderers get away with living in luxury in UK prisons, with their ps2 and Xbox's etc.

I see some people think just because the death penalty lacks imaginations, because your killing some for killing someone else. The point is, why does it need to imaginative, justice is justice, and its simple, if some kills someone delibratley, they take the liberty from their victim and take the liberty to take their life. Why then should they subject to any liberties, as losing ones life is the greatest loss of all, and the one he takes it by killing someone is like killing the whole of humanity. Thus, death is the punishment, thats justice.

The right to take the murderers life after found guilty in a trial, is the victims family choice, if they wish to forgive and let god deal with it, this would be better for the hereafter for them, but it takes great strength to do this, but they have the right to say, No! we would rather see the murderer dead too.

Whoa whoa whoa. Convicted murderers live in luxury while in prison? Thats kind of backwards, dont you think?

Have you ever been in jail? even for a few hours or days? Well I have a couple of times. I can tell you this, there is no luxury whatsoever. To me, a man can have averything his heart desires, but without the simple freedom to open a door and walk outside, it is worthless and only highlights the position of isolation. In my opinion, taking away some one's freedom, forever, is punishment. Everyone dies, to make some big deal over the means of death is foolish in my opinion. Dead is dead, and barring torture, no difference in a car accident or a gunshot. IMHO

I don't know of Jesus speaking to the issue, but if he did, maybe someone can point me to the verses? If he didn't, seems like it must not be high on Gods list of priorities for US to punish someone.

No its not backward, they do have luxuries in jails in europe and england.



I live in a town which has the largest ethinic minority in North Yorkshire, in England. That minority lives in three streets thats all, so that should show you how much of a minority i'm in, yet i love where i live. So as black poeple and other ethinic minorities often get single out by the police, especially in the current climates, i have been arrested a number of times, of false charges initially, then cleared of it etc, so i have seen some of the prisons. unfortunately some of my friends from youth, ended up selling drugs etc, as their only outlet etc, i have no sympathy for them, but they are and have been in prison, i have been to see them and learnt from them. Prisons in the UK are an holiday camp, snooker tables, ps2, xbox's cable tv etc. Call that prison. American prisons i have no idea about. Well if i kill you, its death, its only death, you are certain of it, i will just bring it earlier to you........if i can take the liberty to take your life away, what right do i have to have any liberties or my life. None. Life is the ulimate gift and the ultimate loss, to say death is just death, then why such a problem, when a murderer gets death, after all its only death. Jesus obeyed the laws of the jews as a jew, who have capital punishment. Infact most laws in secular states, are only pretty on paper, if they were not, then crime rates would not be so high.

As far as I understand it, "we" are not to execute judgment on anyone now. However, when Jesus does return there will be a "blood bath" of those who will be opposing Jesus at that time.
What do you think?

i think your right, jesus in his second coming will kill with help from followers, those who oppose him and god. This will be justified killing of evil and to purify the world again. Plus it will be end times, when all hits the fan. However, jesus in the bible, would have killed his enemies if he could, or if he had enough followers to help him, this can be suported by verses too. But his companions were weak and fled when he needed them the most.

I like this posted by sixstrngkid:
And I think this got a point across.

Anyhow, I am reminded of something in my past, and what a Christian co-worker said to me. This was up in Upstate New York, and some weeks prior a 12 year old girl was abducted and was regarded missing. The news recently reported, (and found that it was false) that they had found the remains of the child. It had burned me, that this poor child was taken and I openly stated how I wanted to mangle and murder the guy who took her. This was during a lunch break, and the Christian, a wonderful sweet friend said something profound, that I still keep it with me today. She said that it wasn't good for me to harbor these feelings, for it would pull me down to the level of the kidnapper and murderer. I thought she was right, and told her so. Granted, I still feel how horrible the whole situation is, and I still don't know if they found the 12 year old, but I cannot express what I think should happen to the guy. He should be dealt with and punished. But feeling what I would feel for him, I don't even want to give a second thought. Putting someone to death, where it is unknown, I mean, does that solve it for him, for the 12 year old, and for her family? Even though that we constantly think about how the situations in jail is iffy on taking care of the situation and it's a drag on our taxes, but as long as the convicted are still alive, there is still ways to make him be punished for what he has done.

This was one question I had, we do have these feelings toward someone who willfully and consciously hurts a child especially but any human as they are someones mom, dad, sister, brother. Human nature? I feel like as a christian I should be more tolerant and love even the unlovable as it is not my place to judge but its hard because I think of that child who was harmed and killed and want justice. But as you say wheres the justice it will not bring back the child and I don't see myself being happy that the murderer is killed so whats the answer?
I think the best answer is to leave it in Gods hands as He is the only one who is capable of doing what is right for everyone involved. I don't mean leaving these cold hearted murderers on the street we will have to lock them up but in the end God will judge them regardless of what we do.
Always a pleasure