Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:33:10 GMT -5
Death Penalty A Conundrum For Christians
Silence fell on the protesters as 6 o'clock closed in Wednesday.
Across a 2-lane highway, Florida State Prison officials were preparing to
execute convicted cop killer Clarence Hill.
Protesters stood in the shade of four large trees. Some prayed. Others
held signs or wore shirts denouncing capital punishment.
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," one shirt said. A poster
depicting Jesus sitting at a woman's feet said: "The heart of God's love
is mercy. Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."
Mark Elliott, a representative of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty, called the death penalty "un-Christian" and "anti-Christian."
"2000 years ago, there was another execution, and we were told that we
knew not what we did," he said. "All that time has passed, and what have
we learned?"
To those who oppose the death penalty on religious grounds, neither God
nor Jesus nor the Bible sanctions executions. To them, the commandment
"Thou shalt not kill" means just that: no killing, by anyone, for any
reason.
Many other Christians read the same Bible but, drawing on the guidance of
their faith, come to the opposite conclusion: that, at the very least, God
allows capital punishment and, at most, he mandates it.
"All things objective pass through the subjective," said Joseph Davis, an
assistant professor of religion at Southeastern University in Lakeland.
"There's no question that you can use the Bible for anything, and you can
definitely come up with different conclusions on the death penalty."
It's How You Read The Bible
Polls have shown that a majority of Americans who call themselves
Christian support capital punishment.
Gallup polls taken from 2001 through 2004 found that more than 70 % of
Protestants and 66 % of Catholics support the death penalty. 57 % of
people who said they had "no religious preference" support capital
punishment.
That support would seem to be at odds with many of the major
denominations, including the Roman Catholic and United Methodist churches,
which oppose capital punishment.
The Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod,
support the death penalty. Other denominations, such as the Presbyterians,
are divided - the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) opposes the death penalty,
and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church favors it.
Experts say it's all in how people read the Bible.
To believers who interpret the Bible as the literal word of God, verses
such as Genesis 9:6 ("Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall
that person's blood be shed; for in his own image God made mankind.")
provide scriptural support for capital punishment.
"It's not a vengeance kind of thing," said Kenyn Cureton, a spokesman for
the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn. "It's an understanding
that human life is sacred. When you take a human life wrongfully, you
forfeit your own."
Dale Recinella doesn't see it that way.
Recinella, a Catholic chaplain who ministers to inmates on Florida's death
row, spent 5 years researching and writing "The Biblical Truth About
America's Death Penalty."
His study led him to believe the Bible does not condone capital punishment
as practiced in the United States. He pointed to the Book of Exodus,
Chapter 2, which described what Moses did after seeing an Egyptian beat a
Hebrew slave:
"Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and
hid him in the sand."
"In any death penalty state in America, Moses is on death row," Recinella
said. "But God didn't mandate Moses be killed. Instead, he sent him into
exile. Why would God mandate that anyone who takes a human life has to be
killed and then not do it with Moses?"
Davis, the Southeastern University professor, said the Bible supports
capital punishment because our current government allows it, a theory
known as "sphere sovereignty."
He pointed to a verse in the Book of Romans that calls on a Christian to
"submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority
except that which God has established."
"Here, Paul is simply saying he believes that part of God's common grace
is the establishment of government," Davis said. "In that sphere,
government has been given certain power and responsibility, and part of
that power is capital punishment."
Remembering Amanda Brown
Across from the prison Wednesday, one man stood alone in an area marked
for execution supporters. It was Roy Brown of Tampa. 8 years ago, Brown's
7-year-old daughter, Amanda, was kidnapped and murdered by Willie Seth
Crain.
Crain now sits on death row.
Brown is waiting for Crain to be strapped to the gurney and injected with
the same fatal concoction that ended Clarence Hill's life.
He comes to executions to talk to reporters and keep his daughter's name
alive. He doesn't carry a sign or a Bible or anything indicating his
support of the death penalty. Instead, he wears a shirt with a picture of
Amanda printed on the front.
Brown, raised a Southern Baptist, stayed away from church for years. But
he never forgot what he learned in his formative years.
"I believe in what the Bible says: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I
grew up that way. You kill someone, you got to die."
(source: Tampa Tribune)
Silence fell on the protesters as 6 o'clock closed in Wednesday.
Across a 2-lane highway, Florida State Prison officials were preparing to
execute convicted cop killer Clarence Hill.
Protesters stood in the shade of four large trees. Some prayed. Others
held signs or wore shirts denouncing capital punishment.
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," one shirt said. A poster
depicting Jesus sitting at a woman's feet said: "The heart of God's love
is mercy. Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."
Mark Elliott, a representative of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty, called the death penalty "un-Christian" and "anti-Christian."
"2000 years ago, there was another execution, and we were told that we
knew not what we did," he said. "All that time has passed, and what have
we learned?"
To those who oppose the death penalty on religious grounds, neither God
nor Jesus nor the Bible sanctions executions. To them, the commandment
"Thou shalt not kill" means just that: no killing, by anyone, for any
reason.
Many other Christians read the same Bible but, drawing on the guidance of
their faith, come to the opposite conclusion: that, at the very least, God
allows capital punishment and, at most, he mandates it.
"All things objective pass through the subjective," said Joseph Davis, an
assistant professor of religion at Southeastern University in Lakeland.
"There's no question that you can use the Bible for anything, and you can
definitely come up with different conclusions on the death penalty."
It's How You Read The Bible
Polls have shown that a majority of Americans who call themselves
Christian support capital punishment.
Gallup polls taken from 2001 through 2004 found that more than 70 % of
Protestants and 66 % of Catholics support the death penalty. 57 % of
people who said they had "no religious preference" support capital
punishment.
That support would seem to be at odds with many of the major
denominations, including the Roman Catholic and United Methodist churches,
which oppose capital punishment.
The Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod,
support the death penalty. Other denominations, such as the Presbyterians,
are divided - the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) opposes the death penalty,
and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church favors it.
Experts say it's all in how people read the Bible.
To believers who interpret the Bible as the literal word of God, verses
such as Genesis 9:6 ("Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall
that person's blood be shed; for in his own image God made mankind.")
provide scriptural support for capital punishment.
"It's not a vengeance kind of thing," said Kenyn Cureton, a spokesman for
the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn. "It's an understanding
that human life is sacred. When you take a human life wrongfully, you
forfeit your own."
Dale Recinella doesn't see it that way.
Recinella, a Catholic chaplain who ministers to inmates on Florida's death
row, spent 5 years researching and writing "The Biblical Truth About
America's Death Penalty."
His study led him to believe the Bible does not condone capital punishment
as practiced in the United States. He pointed to the Book of Exodus,
Chapter 2, which described what Moses did after seeing an Egyptian beat a
Hebrew slave:
"Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and
hid him in the sand."
"In any death penalty state in America, Moses is on death row," Recinella
said. "But God didn't mandate Moses be killed. Instead, he sent him into
exile. Why would God mandate that anyone who takes a human life has to be
killed and then not do it with Moses?"
Davis, the Southeastern University professor, said the Bible supports
capital punishment because our current government allows it, a theory
known as "sphere sovereignty."
He pointed to a verse in the Book of Romans that calls on a Christian to
"submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority
except that which God has established."
"Here, Paul is simply saying he believes that part of God's common grace
is the establishment of government," Davis said. "In that sphere,
government has been given certain power and responsibility, and part of
that power is capital punishment."
Remembering Amanda Brown
Across from the prison Wednesday, one man stood alone in an area marked
for execution supporters. It was Roy Brown of Tampa. 8 years ago, Brown's
7-year-old daughter, Amanda, was kidnapped and murdered by Willie Seth
Crain.
Crain now sits on death row.
Brown is waiting for Crain to be strapped to the gurney and injected with
the same fatal concoction that ended Clarence Hill's life.
He comes to executions to talk to reporters and keep his daughter's name
alive. He doesn't carry a sign or a Bible or anything indicating his
support of the death penalty. Instead, he wears a shirt with a picture of
Amanda printed on the front.
Brown, raised a Southern Baptist, stayed away from church for years. But
he never forgot what he learned in his formative years.
"I believe in what the Bible says: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I
grew up that way. You kill someone, you got to die."
(source: Tampa Tribune)