Death Penalty

[MC Just]

I was at my sisters protestant church, a while back and their Pastor was saying he's pro-life and and believe's abortion is wrong, but he supports the death penalty saying: "Putting crimals to death is a authority given to the Government by God" It's supported by Scripture" So he says.


What are your takes on this people?

[the_rev]

The minister is crazy, any death that isn't natural dying is unjust!

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

I know the Catholic Church is against the death penalty, but it doesn't outlaw it in extreme cases. This being said, is it right to support a total BAN of corporal punishment in the US?

[IcePrincessKRS]

In cases where its necessary the death penalty is allowable, so I'm not completely against it (for example I would support the DP for serial killers).

A TOTAL BAN on all corporal punishment is not practical at all. That would give license for even more crime, I think. If you aren't going to be punished for your offenses then why not wreak havoc?

[Banksey]

the way i see it death penalty is a way of living eye for an eye. like a guy murders people. so to teach him not to we murder him. i see no sense in that.

[Iacobus]

I understand having the DP IF AND ONLY IF the legal system is 100% safe and fair. However, it can NEVER be 100% because it is the human. Plus human life is sacred from brith to natrual death. We should hate the sin and love the person.

[J.P.]

Capitol punishment has been abolished here in Canada. Its good, but then again the penalty for murder is life(25 yrs), and at 20 years, the murderer can apply for parole. Its a joke. I dont support the death penalty, and I am pleased that is has been abolished here at home, but I think our legal system needs to be a little more harsh on the ones that cause much unneed conflict.

Peace yall

[Brother Adam]

I fully support the death penalty

[mom25angels]

[quote name='Iacobus' date='Mar 26 2004, 08:17 PM'] I understand having the DP IF AND ONLY IF the legal system is 100% safe and fair. However, it can NEVER be 100% because it is the human. Plus human life is sacred from brith to natrual death. We should hate the sin and love the person. [/quote]
This is right on. Also if there is NO OTHER WAY to punish a criminal then DP would be acceptable. In our country in our time this does NOT apply. We have the resources to imprison criminals for the rest of their lives and therefore we have no moral right to execute.

Sarah

[Livin_the_MASS]

"Defend the right to life from conception to natural death" JPII.

The pastor is wrong. Life is a gift, left for God to take when He says it's time.

The Death Penalty is wrong. "Let the one without sin cast the first stone."

In the Love of Christ
Jason

[popestpiusx]

Isn't there another thread going over the same topic?

[ironmonk]

"corporal punishment" is spanking.


The Church teaches that Governments have a right to use capital punishment when necessary. When

In today's day and age, it is not necessary to kill most people.
[list]
[*]It's cheaper to lock them up for life instead of kill them
[*]They have a chance to repent and be saved for Christ if they live
[*]Today's prisons are top notch, we can protect society by locking them up.
[/list]

[b]Political Responsibility [/b]
p. 16.
"The Church's commitment to the value and dignity of human life leads us to oppose the use of the death penalty. We believe that a return to the use of the death penalty is further eroding respect for life in our society. We do not question society's right to protect itself, but we believe that there are better approaches to protecting our people from violent crimes. The application of the death penalty has been discriminatory toward the poor, the indigent, and racial minorities. Our society should reject the death penalty and seek methods of dealing with violent crime that are more consistent with the gospel visions of respect for life and Christ's message of healing love. This principle is set forth in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church


[b]Catechism of the Catholic Church [/b]
[b]2266[/b]
"Preserving the common good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For this reason the traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as well-founded [b][u]the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty.[/u][/b] For analogous reasons those holding authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the community in their charge."

[b]2267[/b]
"[u][b]If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person[/b][/u]."

[RandomProddy]

I abhor the death penalty.

[popestpiusx]

I support the death penalty 100%. But it must be used properly, in keeping with the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church.

[mulls]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='Mar 27 2004, 12:20 AM'] I fully support the death penalty [/quote]
i'm fully against it.




that's just me, not worth arguing about.

[mulls]

wow it's funny all of us here seem to love the Lord yet simply have differing opinions on things.




it's kinda like...........








nah.

Edited March 27, 2004 by mulls

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='ironmonk' date='Mar 27 2004, 12:40 AM'] "corporal punishment" is spanking.


The Church teaches that Governments have a right to use capital punishment when necessary. [/quote]
haha I KNEW there was something wrong with that phrase! Well, I still stand by what I said. Sometime spankin's are necessary! So is capitol punishment!

[thicke]

First of all, capital punishment should never, never be that - punishment.

Punishing someone for their sins (crimes) by killing them is cruel and taking upon yourself an authority that really only God should have. Now, with that being said there are still valid reasons for a government to inflict execution on it's criminals. Two reasons stand out as valid.

The first is as a deterrent. Besides the fact that I have a soft heart, I would never murder anyone in Texas, because I know that if caught and found guilty in a court of law, I would be executed post haste. This however did not seem to be such a big deterrent for the 300+ people executed in Texas (if they were all guilty) since 1975, or the 450+ currently sitting on death row. You have to remember that a lot of these people have little to live for anyway. They also value life very little, including their own. Is this a deterrent here in the US? We'll never know. It's much more obvious in other countries where the culture of death hasn't permeated every layer of society.

The second is to protect society from the criminal. But does that really hold water in a rich, technologically advanced culture such as the US? We will say that our tax dollars shouldn't go to pay for the upkeep pf criminals that have committed violent crimes. If you say this, you would be right, but the answer is not to kill more. I would say that my tax dollars should not go to pay for the welfare of a single mother and her three kids, but the answer is not to legalize abortion. Now, you might say that it's not the same. In an abortion, you are dealing with an innocent. That is correct. But they are the same in the fact that you are dealing with a human life, which is being ended for the sake of convenience.

Now, just to let you know that I'm not a hard nosed liberal when it comes to this issue, let me also say this. I have visited the Philippines many times. There it's different story. The government has almost no resources what so ever to apply to their penal system. There the death penalty is on the table for rape, murder, kidnapping and drug trade. It has to be. They have no other choice than to do this to protect society, because of the lack of an economically and technologically sound prison system. They have no other choice there than to do this to protect society. Here, we have a choice.

[popestpiusx]

Actually thicke, the primary end of punishment is to restore the order of justice. It is precisly that - punishment. This is not putting ourselves in God's place. He even prescribed its use in the OT and the Church has always and without exception defended the right of the state to execute.

[thicke]

[quote name='popestpiusx' date='Mar 27 2004, 08:31 AM'] Actually thicke, the primary end of punishment is to restore the order of justice.  It is precisly that - punishment.  This is not putting ourselves in God's place.  He even prescribed its use in the OT and the Church has always and without exception defended the right of the state to execute. [/quote]
It seems that we have a mentality today of "they should suffer like the victim suffered" or "I want my pound of flesh". There is too much of a revenge factor in our society. We shouldn't want to make anyone suffer as a primary reason for inflicting punishment. It should always be for good reasons, not for bad. I think if you go back and re-read my post, you'll see that I agree with your statement. The problem is that execution is not needed in our society to "restore the order of justice". Executing someone simply because we think they deserve to die is not within our purview. Executing someone to protect society is, but is also unnecessary in the Untied States.

Edited March 27, 2004 by thicke