Church's+View

The Catholic Church's View ** >>Take a Bible Quiz! How much do you know about God and the Death Penalty?<< ** This article, Death Penalty Info, illustrates the Vatican’s stance on capital punishment. It lists the high percentage of error in sentencing someone to death such as killing innocent people and justifying revenge. The Vatican also supports putting a moratorium on all use of capital punishment. It further goes into the unalienable rights of a human being including right to life and promoting God’s message of forgiveness. –D’Agostini
 * Vatican Says Death Penalty Is "Affront to Human Dignity" **

**//"We believe that in the conditions of contemporary American society, the legitimate purposes of punishment do not justify the imposition of the death penalty." ~U.S. bishops in 1980 //**

**Abolitionist View on the Death Penalty** This article, Religious Tolerance, outlines the Catholic Church’s stance on capital punishment. The Church believes the death penalty is never justified because there is no proof that it reduces the homicide rate, conflicts with Jesus’s teaching of forgiveness and promotes revenge, risks a chance of making a mistake, and causes agony to the family of the person executed. –D’Agostini

There is no conclusive proof that the death penalty reduces the homicide rate; there are some indications that it does the opposite
 * A main justification for retaining the death penalty is retribution -- often pure revenge. This conflicts with one of of Jesus' main messages: forgiveness.
 * Mistakes happen. People can be executed for crimes they never committed.
 * Executing people prevents any chance at reform.
 * The death penalty causes agony to the family and friends of the person executed.



When Jesus spoke of forgiveness, He did not confuse this simple truth. He taught clearly that you must forgive those who sinned against you, not those who sinned against your neighbor. For as He taught Israel to pray:
 * God and the Death Penalty **
 * "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" Mat. 6:12
 * "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you... whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." Mat. 5:38-39
 * "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." John 8:7

This article, Theology Online, discusses Bible verses supporting the evils of capital punishment. It references almost every book of the Bible in the Old and New Testament. It provides proof of passages that teach it is God’s decision to choose when one’s life will end, not humans. The article goes farther than just “Thou shall not kill” but delves deep into the wording of Scripture to support the Catholic Church’s stance on the death penalty. –D’Agostini

To be Pro-Life is to be against abortion, or a woman's right to choose to terminate her own pregnancy. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is morally wrong because it is killing an unborn baby who was created by God. Killing God's creation is extremely immoral. Life begins at conception and is treated with respect from that day forward. Likewise, the Catholic Church teaches that Capital Punishment is wrong because it is taking God's privilege to choose when a person leaves this earth, and putting it into a human's own hands. But many Catholics are not only Pro-Life, but also Pro-Capital Punishment. They believe that since a person was convicted of a crime, they should be put to death in accordance with the law. But God teaches to respect and cherish life from the moment of conception until the last hours of life. It is not our decision to choose when a human will leave this earth. God has a plan for each person and interfering with that plan is interfering with God. -D'Agostini
 * Pro-Life and Pro-Capital Punishment? It's a Contradiction **

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