How the USA is like Iraq and Iran...
This past November, Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000th person to be executed in the USA. It baffles me that the loudest supporters of the death penalty are Christians. There are tons of sociological reasons why the death penalty is wrong not to mention theological reasons. A few sociological reasons:
1) Capital punishment does not deter crime. Many studies have been done and they continue to show that the death penalty fails to deter people from committing crimes.
2) An execution cost more for taxpayers than life in prison without parole. How much more? Each death penalty case costs 1.25 million dollars more than an average life without parole case.
3) Race is an important factor in determining who is sentenced to die. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office concluded that "in 82 percent of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks."
3) We are unable to prevent accidental execution of innocent people. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 119 men/women have been released from Death Row. Some just minutes before their execution. Imagine how many have died that were innocent.
4) USA is in good company with notorious human rights abusers. The vast majority of countries in Western Europe, North America and South America - more than 117 nations worldwide - have abandoned capital punishment in law or in practice. The United States remains in the same company as Iraq, Iran and China as one of the major advocates and users of capital punishment.
Wow, huh? So why is it that some of the most adamantnt supporters of the death penalty is the Christian right? Why, after the words of Jesus in Matthew 6, would Christians continue to rally behind an archaic notion of an eye for eye? Are you pro-life or not?
Wanna explore the issue a bit more? Go here to learn more and join the effort in ending a practice that goes against the will of God.
1) Capital punishment does not deter crime. Many studies have been done and they continue to show that the death penalty fails to deter people from committing crimes.
2) An execution cost more for taxpayers than life in prison without parole. How much more? Each death penalty case costs 1.25 million dollars more than an average life without parole case.
3) Race is an important factor in determining who is sentenced to die. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office concluded that "in 82 percent of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks."
3) We are unable to prevent accidental execution of innocent people. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 119 men/women have been released from Death Row. Some just minutes before their execution. Imagine how many have died that were innocent.
4) USA is in good company with notorious human rights abusers. The vast majority of countries in Western Europe, North America and South America - more than 117 nations worldwide - have abandoned capital punishment in law or in practice. The United States remains in the same company as Iraq, Iran and China as one of the major advocates and users of capital punishment.
Wow, huh? So why is it that some of the most adamantnt supporters of the death penalty is the Christian right? Why, after the words of Jesus in Matthew 6, would Christians continue to rally behind an archaic notion of an eye for eye? Are you pro-life or not?
Wanna explore the issue a bit more? Go here to learn more and join the effort in ending a practice that goes against the will of God.
posted by jch at
8:28 PM
9 Comments:
Thank you for stepping out there on this controversial issue. Sometimes our "pro-life" stances are really narrowly focused on abortion alone. I wonder how many people feel like they have to be against the death penalty because they want to be consistent within the Christian Right template. More than anything I assume that many people don't sit down to evaluate why they believe what they believe. It's so much easier to get involved in the mud slinging than to honestly look at the theological foundations for our opinions. Enjoyed this post.
By the way, I haven't had a chance to check your blog in a while, but after reading "A Year Ago Today," I was impressed at how clearly and honestly Laura was able to articulate her thoughts on prayer and faith. Please let her know how much we appreciate her insights. shalom!
Joe - I have been wanting to make a "statement of faith" regarding capital punishment on my own blog for a while now...just waiting a bit before I broach what is a
VERY controversial issue. (I've already adequately pissed off some folks for the time being...)
I completely, one-hundred-percent agree with you. Only recently have I come to the decision that capital punishment is not Jesus' way. I'm still developing my thoughts on all of it, so thanks for a thought-provoking post.
Can we debate the death penalty issue without comparing the US to Iraq and Iran? There's a big difference between someone who is put to death because a US JURY tried and convicted them versus Saddam Hussein who massacres thousands because he has a bad hair day. Surely you see the difference.
Amen, Dusty, AMEN. To hear YOU, a Christian who has waded through the darkest of waters, make the statement you just did...it gives me hope for myself and other followers of Christ.
Jennie, I think you bring up a valid point. I think Joe used the comparison to play off our nations feelings of moral superiority in the areas of freedom, human rights, and justice. And it's true, comparatively speaking it takes a lot less to be sentenced to death in a place like Iran, Iraq, or China than it does in the United States. And we have much greater opportunities for the convicted or accused to have their innocence or guilt determined by various courts and by impatial jury's, something those other countries do not have. However, in the end all the governments he listed and ours share in the practice of execution as a form of punishment and deterrence. And unless the US system can be right 100% of the time (which it isn't) then we must own up to the fact that our government has killed people who were innocent, just like the governments of Iraq, Iran, or China.
I was no longer able to justify being pro-life when it came to a fetus and pro-death when it came to a grown adult no matter what they had done. To love and support life requires a complete embrace of life's sanctity, not just a side hug. I admit that it still is a struggle to not want to take the ultimate revenge on some of the people who commit unspeakable horrors on other people especially children. I think about John Couey who kidnapped, and brutally assaulted nine-year old Jessica Lunsford for three days then buried her alive. Being honest I feel like he should be made to endure the most horrific torture and terrifying death someone could conjure up. That's just how I feel having not even known Jessica. I can't imagine what my heart would feel like if that had happened to a child I knew or my own child.
But then I know, in the end, that wouldn't undo what had been done to Jessica or the thousands of other children who are brutally murdered, starved, or exploited by adults every day. Violence, even justifiable violence (which I believe does exist) comes with a price. If I was given the tools and authority to take John Couey and exact "justice" on him, would I be willing to do it? I don't think I could, because I would be scarred. I know that dealing out the kind of violence that he deserves would exact a price on me that I wouldn't be able to bear even if I wanted to. That violence would change me in fundamental ways. The price for capital punishment in our society is too high and not worth it even in it's most justifiable instances.
We must have faith in the just and gracious God to bring about the reckoning or redemption in peoples lives.
Yes, Jason, YES!!! I think you sum up the issue well in your third paragraph: ALL violence (including that which seems justified) comes with a price.
Also, who holds the government accountable for the hundreds of innocent people who have been executed?
My human nature is to exact revenge. But God calls us to be like Jesus, and Jesus walks in the exact opposite direction of revenge. It's hard as ALL GET OUT for me to be like Jesus in this vein. But it's what I strive for-- as feeble as my attempts may be-- and I hope, what most Christ-followers are striving for as well.
I think repealing the death penalty is a great place to start.
On Wednesday this week, Stan "Tookie" Williams was executed in California. Here was a man who, yes, had been a founding member of the Crips in L.A., which has brought crime and chaos to many communities. But here was a man who after being convicted of killing 4 people (in which none of the cases held irrefutable evidence of his guilt) and put on death row did great things--spoke out against street violence, wrote books for children decrying this life, and started programs worthy of multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. And yet he was executed on Wednesday, because Gov. Schwarzenegger believed that he held no remorse for his crimes and because he would not say he was sorry. Because he held to the end that he was innocent. A great man has been lost and America has once again shown the world that a Christian nation offers no grace and no hope of redemption. I am beyond saddened by these events.
This post made me think of a passage that hangs above our desk from the Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. I recently posted it on my own blog...
How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car.
We are not pro-life simply because we are warding off death. We are pro-life to the extent that we are men and women for others, all others; to the extent that no human flesh is a stranger to us; to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love; to the extent that for us there are no "others."
Thank you for your thoughts on this topic. What an amazing thing it would be to see Christians stepping up to advocate the mercy that has been so greatly lavished upon us all.
The real problem I believe is that both sides speak with passioned, somewhat enflamed speech for "their stance" on the issue - whatever the issue may be. Kind of like politics - no common ground.
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