"Is the death penalty wrong?"

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To use as few words as possible, the simple answer to this question is “yes.” As a person of faith, particularly a person who follows Jesus Christ (a victim of the death penalty, mind you), I am of the conviction that every person is a bearer of the image of God. This is an ideology expressed by those who stand against abortion in the “pro-life” movement. I’m afraid, however, that most of their “pro-life” sentiments end at the maternity ward. It is my belief that being “pro-life” means I am against (unnatural) death, whether it be abortion, war, murder, or even the death penalty. The death penalty stands in stark opposition to being “pro-life,” because it is a practice that unnaturally ends the life of another human being.
Furthermore, as a Christian I am convinced that the attitudes and reasoning behind the death penalty stand in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. We still live with the motto “an eye for an eye…”, but Jesus says to us “if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. In his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Punishment, T. Richard Snyder highlights how we have created a culture of vengeance where “We’d rather turn the knife than turn the other cheek.” May we come to value ALL human life and seek reconciliation rather than revenge.

CPT

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