Why do so many on the religious right believe in the death penalty?

Question

Their belief system clearly states, Thou shall not kill, yet they seem rabidly insistent that someone do some killing on the government's behalf. Isn't that hypocritical? Shouldn't you want the person administering the lethal injection to not kill as well?

And isn't God going to sit in judgement, anyway? With ALL the facts? If so, why are you so insistent on trying to do his work for him?

Where exactly in the Bible does it say: "Thou shall not kill, unless it is to kill a killer" or "Thou shall not kill, unless it is while looking for WMD's". Why do the bible-thumpers think these exceptions exist?

FairlyErica - Of course, if they followed their "eye for eye" logic, rapists should be sodomized....I wonder how many on the religious right would volunteer for that job?

AnnieMae - The Bible also clearly states "Thou shall not kill". And last time I checked "An eye for an eye" didn't make the 10 Commandments, so I think "Thou Shall Not Kill" takes precedence...Nor did Jesus EVER attempt to use "An eye for an eye" as a punishment for the criminals around him....

Macguyver - I'm sure your answer makes sense in your own head, but I'm not clear how it is germane to our discussion. Jesus clearly didn't say his people would KILL to keep him free....SO THERE, I guess.

Conradmex - Your answer was not up to your usual snuff. The Bible says "Thou shall not KILL", not "Thou shall not commit murder". You seem to have found all kinds of excuses why killing is actually okay, though your excuses clearly contradict the Commandment. Nor did you provide any documentation from the Bible to justify your position. A rather subpar effort, I dare say....

Travus - you just made my point. You state it is against God's law to kill a person...and then sum up by saying we should kill a person. I understand the idea of death penalty as deterent (though it has been shown, fairly conclusively, not to be one), but I still don't see how it jibes with THE BIBLE.

Travus - you just made my point. You state it is against God's law to kill a person...and then sum up by saying we should kill a person. I understand the idea of death penalty as deterent (though it has been shown, fairly conclusively, not to be one), but I still don't see how it jibes with THE BIBLE.

Answer 1

I am not Christian and I still believe prison should be a lot more of a punishment than it is now. Capital punishment would also help with prison overcrowding. Why should we have to support an evil maniac for the rest of their life? Blessed be.

Answer 2

There is no hypocracy from a religious perspective. This does not mean that you have to believe in the commandments, but the reality (of the meaning of the commandment) is different than you may seem to think. There is a misconception of original language and culture. A more accurate translation is "thou shalt not do murder", where murder is a specific set of circumstances that surround one person ending the life of another.
Many individuals who have not taken the time to study the history and traditions of the Bible make this error. However unlikely it is to occur, you may want to(
God will most likely sit in judgement of people who use religion(s) for their own selfish agendas, probably at the same rate that God will judge those who judge a religion's theology without taking the time to understand exactly what it stands for.

So, to a well read, well informed, Christian / Jew, what is called for in the commandment is clear, and there are no exceptions, because there are times when the taking of another's life may be appropriate, and sadly even necessary.
No one should find the ending the life of another enjoyable, but individuals can, by their own decisions and actions be so dangerous, evil and destructive that there may be no other reasonable alternative to protect them from innocent, non-violent people.

Answer 3

The Old Testament says "thou shall not kill" but it also prescribes the death penalty for many things, including breaking the Sabbath, adultery, idolatry, etc. So, murder is wrong according to the Old Testament, but capital punishment is NOT.

However, according to Christianity, the New Testament takes precedence to the Old, and IT says that Jesus corrected those people who were going to stone an adulteress. According to the OT, she should have been stoned if caught by 2 witnesses, but Jesus said no.

So the whole issue of the death penalty is difficult to derive from the Bible, being that it is open to interpretation on these matters.

To me, it would seem that it would be more Christian to be against the death penalty so that the criminals could have time to repent and accept Jesus.

Answer 4

Here's the jist of it. Is it against the law of the state to kill a person? Yes of course it is. Is it against God's law to kill a person? Yes it is. So when some one kills another person, the state will punish that person for breaking its law, and God will punish that person for breaking His law.

How the state punishes that person is up to them, whether they want to put him in jail for life and make tax payers feed him, or whether they go by the theory he took a life, so his life should be taken... that is up to the state.

Here's what I think about whether a person should be killed or not if they kill another human being... Okay, if I wanted to kill my neighbor just cuz I hated his guts, then I would probably think to myself "well, I am in a state that the worse I can get is life in prison, and I will probably get out after 5 years anyways... Yeah, I think I will kill him". Seriously though... There is a possibility that I won't be caught, and whats the worse thing that will happen to me if I do get caught???
This story could have a different ending if while I was pondering killing my neighbor, the thought went through my mind "If I get caught, I will be killed". I think we should give murderers something to look forward to. Make an example of the murderers that have been caught, and maybe future murderers will think twice about snuffing out a life...

Answer 5

The bible also states "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". You can find a bible quote to support just about anything you choose to believe in.

But I've never quite figured out the logic of this either.

Answer 6

You seem to think that it is the government's fault when someone dies from the death penalty. It isn't.

It is the fault of the criminal who committed the crime that led to the death penalty. When someone commits murder, they are well aware of the possible death sentence that will follow. When it is carried out on them, they have no one to blame but themself.

Here's a similar example. A farmer has a problem with thieves stealing from his orchard and decides to dig a big trench around his property, line it with stakes, and put up a sign that says "Trespassers keep out! You will die if you enter!" Then, one of the thieves comes back, tries to steal from the orchard again, falls into the trench, and dies. Whose fault is it that he died? I say it was the fault of the thief. The farmer warned him ahead of time. It was the thief's stupidity and criminal ways that led to his demise.

The death penalty is exactly the same. The criminals know which crimes can carry a death sentence. If they choose to commit those crimes and die because of it, it is their own fault.

Answer 7

an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

The saying means equal punishment for a crime. I have no sympathy whatsoever for criminals. If you commit a crime especially a violent one then you should have the exact same conquences come back on you 10 fold.

Why do you want to spare the life of somebody who has taken a life?

Answer 8

Murder is murder any way you look at it. Murdering a killer may make the victims families feel better, but it is not going to bring the victims themselves back so it is pointless. If someone were to kill a member of my family I would want the to rot in prison and think about what they did everyday for the rest of their life. Lethal injection is the easy way out. I would want them to suffer.

Answer 9

The Bible clearly states "An Eye for An EYE"

Answer 10

I sleep rather well at night knowing that the killer of an innocent person was put to death. I was baptized a Christian. I suppose if God has a problem with my thinking then he should straighten my act out. He hasn't.