{"id":14445,"date":"2011-10-10T10:33:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T14:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=14445"},"modified":"2011-10-10T10:33:17","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T14:33:17","slug":"struggle-with-the-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/struggle-with-the-death-penalty\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggle With the Death Penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When my high school government class held a series of debates against another class, I charged in at full steam.\u00a0 The teachers had agreed not to interfere, but they let me know in private that if I wanted to offer some \u201cassistance\u201d to other debate teams from my class, I could.\u00a0 I did just that, helping each team research concepts for their issue (social security reform, abortion, education spending, etc), showing them how to lay out key points in an argument, and sharing ideas for the short video each team was asked to produce to support their view.<\/p>\n

Our crowning achievement came in the midst of the death penalty debate.\u00a0 At first it went badly; we found that it is almost impossible to make a strong argument for the death penalty as a deterrent. We found that putting a person through the entire death row process was actually more expensive than giving a person life without parole.\u00a0 We found constitutional arguments impossible so long as our government allows some states to use the death penalty and some some to ban it.\u00a0 But then we hit upon an idea that became our crown jewel.<\/p>\n

By splicing together violent scenes and the closing arguments from the movie A Time to Kill<\/em>, we created a tale of indescribable evil with vivid imagery and gut-wrenching descriptions.\u00a0 After the video played, the class listened silently as our debate team made a simple but powerful distinction.\u00a0 Some crime is just crime.\u00a0 But some crime is pure evil, and locking up the perpetrator is not enough.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The recent executions of Troy Davis<\/a> and Lawrence Russell Brewer<\/a> are perfect examples of why the death penalty question is so difficult.\u00a0 One might argue that in the case of Davis, the death penalty was wielded as a sort of, \u201cstrongest penalty we have,\u201d in a murder case that was full of questions and changes and doubts.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the case of Lawrence Russell Brewer\u2019s hate crime murder was so heinous and disturbing that the penalty was given as a sort of, \u201cleast we can do,\u201d in the face of enormous evil.<\/p>\n

I hope these two cases cause you to think carefully about your stance on the death penalty.\u00a0 I\u2019ll talk about where I stand in a moment, but I confess I do not stand there strongly.\u00a0 This issue is a tough one for Christians because Scripture does not seem to give a clear and certain prescription for this issue in our current context.\u00a0 So first I want to give you a road map for settling your own mind with a series of questions that deserve investigation.<\/p>\n

First, a pragmatic question.\u00a0 Does the death penalty prevent crime?\u00a0 Given that we cannot change our system of appeals (a good thing, I think), does the death penalty as it works now have a significant reductive influence on crime in those areas where it is legal?\u00a0 Too often people answer this question with thought experiments or hypotheticals. \u00a0 What does the data seem to show?<\/p>\n

Second, what are some of the various reasons a governing entity might make use of capital punishment?\u00a0 Which of those reasons seem valid and which do not?\u00a0 For instance, let us say for a moment that the data shows the death penalty does not reduce crime.\u00a0 If, \u201ccrime prevention,\u201d is the key reason a government uses the death penalty, suddenly that reason is invalid, is it not?\u00a0 At the same time, let us say that, \u201csending a message that unrepentant evil will not be allowed to survive,\u201d is an important reason.\u00a0 This may still be valid.\u00a0 Understanding why you are doing something is a big key to evaluating whether it is right or wrong, foolish or wise.<\/p>\n

Third, what are some of the things God says about capital punishment?\u00a0 Try as I might, I cannot find anything to suggest he is inherently against it.\u00a0 Jewish law was full of capital punishment specifically commanded by God, and nowhere does he condemn it in the New Testament.<\/p>\n

And yet, it is also clear that God wants us to carry the gospel to all people, that he does not desire than any should perish, and that we are to love and turn the other cheek to our enemies, banishing evil hatred from our hearts.\u00a0 These qualities seem to compete directly with the emotions that are encouraged in capital punishment cases: vengeance, closure, peace through punishment, hope for pain and even hell as the lot of the criminal.<\/p>\n

Once you have worked through these questions, I encourage you to take what you understand to be the most God-honoring position possible.\u00a0 But be wise, this one is tricky and wiser people than you and I have disagreed on it for ages.<\/p>\n

I said I would share my perspective, so here it is. As a Christian, I do not want to see anyone die without hearing the gospel.\u00a0 And having heard it, I want them to hear it again and again until they submit to it.\u00a0 My hope is that men given life without parole will hear and respond to the gospel, and will then use their position within the prison system to reach out to other prisoners.\u00a0 The vast majority of the time, then, I believe incarceration is the healthiest and best method of punishment we have.<\/p>\n

But I also believe capital punishment is a tool given to earthly authorities to be wielded with wisdom.\u00a0 As Augustine said, \u201cSince the agent of authority is but a sword in the hand [of God], it is in no way contrary to the commandment `Thou shalt not kill\u2019 for the representative of the state\u2019s authority to put criminals to death.\u201d So I am in favor of the death penalty for cases in which the crime displays an extreme rejection of social compacts.<\/p>\n

In other words, the person\u2019s crime is a loud and clear, \u201cScrew you!\u201d to society and all it stands for.\u00a0 The case of Lawrence Russell Brewer is one good example, in which he beat and dragged a man to death primarily out of hatred for the man\u2019s race.\u00a0 Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, and the Nazis involved in the Holocaust might be others.\u00a0 I affirm the right of the state to take a clear stand against evil that rises to special prominence because it willfully rejects the very principles that allow us to live in peace.\u00a0 But I think those moments should be few and far between; in fact, they should be much more rare than they are currently.<\/p>\n

Your perspective may be different than mine, and that is fine.\u00a0 I cannot claim perfect Scriptural authority on this issue.\u00a0 But I beg you to wrestle with it. \u00a0As I discovered in high school, capital punishment is an issue fraught with complexity, competing statistics, and high emotion. \u00a0It is more complex than crime deterrence, and it is tied more closely to our human ethics than most other issues.<\/p>\n

How we understand the role of punishment and justice in our society says a lot about how we view other things as well.\u00a0 And how we as Christians approach issues like these with both love and justice says a lot about the God we serve.\u00a0 May we all display wisdom in our pursuit.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does the death penalty prevent crime? Why do governments enact it? And how should Christians feel about it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1224,"featured_media":14491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,11,15],"tags":[350,717,68253,1385],"class_list":["post-14445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-general-culture","category-headline","category-politics","tag-death-penalty","tag-lawerence-russell-brewer","tag-politics","tag-troy-davis"],"yoast_head":"\nStruggle With the Death Penalty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Does the death penalty prevent crime? Why do governments enact it? 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