Summary christian attitudes

Christian Summary of Religious Attitudes Most Christians oppose the death penalty. It goes against the teachings of Christ who told his followers to “turn the other cheek”.

He told them to go against the traditional teachings of “eye for an eye”. In the Garden of Gethsemane he told Peter who was defending him that those who “live by the sword die by the sword”; that a society that uses barbaric acts in turn promotes them. Charles Darrow, a prominent Civil Rights lawyer agreed with this saying that where the death penalty was removed, the frequency of violent acts lessened. The Church also questions who has the right to judge?

When Jesus saved Mary Magdalene he asked for those without sin to “cast the first stone”. The death penalty also removes the possibility of reforming a sinner and takes away the potential of the victim to forgive the criminal. There is also the danger of an innocent person being killed.

The Catholic Church accepts that they “acknowledge the right to punish criminals”. They refer to the order by Paul to “obey the state authorities” and also refer to traditional teachings such as “eye for eye”. Christian law man Albert Pierrepoint believed that capital punishment assured the cleaning of sin and atonement for crime.