The Busted Halo Show, on satellite radio, tonight discussed capital punishment.
Father Dave Dwyer pointed out that while the State had the authority to impose the death penalty, such was contrary to Church teachings except in extraordinary circumstances. Basically, the State is to preserve life unless there is no other way to protect people; and the death penalty is not necessary except, perhaps, in times of civil unrest.
To be clear, the Catholic Church opposes the death penalty in nearly all cases, and Pope John Paul II often spoke out against capital punishment.
The show led me to do some further reading. Here's part of what I found:
"We believe much of capital punishment's support springs from a desire for revenge or from a desperate attempt to balance the terrible damage wrought by a capital crime. And such feelings are understandable in the face of brutal and senseless violence inflicted upon innocent people. Justice is a legitimate desire.
However, we believe that justice cannot be achieved through vengeance. This belief is deeply rooted in our Scriptures. While many people claim that the bible endorses capital punishment, the verse generally used as a support (Leviticus 24:20, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth") is in fact a plea for less violence, by urging people not to avenge one offense with a larger one. In the Gospels, Jesus said that retaliation was an incorrect response to violence. Rather, Jesus tells us to offer the other cheek and extend our hand in blessing and healing (Matthew 5:38-48)."
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7 comments:
The Catholic Pope has no business interfering in things like capital punishment. He should stay in Rome wearing dresses and being a useful idiot to Marxists like you Morton. Dead men don't kill anyone. In fact dead men don't even matter. Put all real criminals to death and the world will be better. But then you coudnt make money off them could you!
Actually, it is the Pope's job to say unpopular things if that's what morality requires. And Catholic seamless web of life teaching does make sense even if it is a very hard and narrow road. As for dead men not mattering, well, maybe Pontius Pilate or Henry II thought that. They were wrong.
How is Lev 24:20 a plea for less violence?
God is telling Moses to punish crimes with like crimes.
Lev 24:
" 17 “‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. 22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.’”
The tradition is the passage limits punishment. So you shall not use, say, capital punishment for minor crimes. Now, I agree, that's a gloss but both the Church and the Rabbis agree that tradition has value in interpretation.
While we are at it, all priests who have committed brutality toward children and changed the child's life forever, ought to be shoved into a jail cell and the key thrown away. It's like Harper going to South Korea 2006 and condemming the Chinese for their inhumanity toward humanity. Clean up Canada's social ills before poking noses where they do not belong. The Roman Catholic needs to take a darn hard look at its brutal history and its stupid attitude toward socity.
First, I am a lapsed Catholic and lapsed for the reason that I believe much of the teachings of the Catholic Church unpalatable. This is one of those areas. The Church has changed its teachings despite its reliance on scripture. Where was this love of human life when heretics were being burned?
No, this is new teaching that has found convenient support in scripture. Well, you could justify sodomizing a goat at the dinner table with right scriptural passage.
The death penalty is tough but not because all human life is sacred. It isn't. It is tough because we fear the state killing the wrong person or perhaps killing to easily those it finds inconvenient.
So the death penalty is tough. The solution is not to make the law inflexible. The solution is to make the death penalty tough, too. Certainly the death penalty in the US is too easily given. Still, can we not find the wisdom to write a law that allows us to dispose of the worst of our human trash?
Olson was allowed to live and allowed to create suffering, pain, and misery for people who already suffered more than anyone should. We know, absolutely without a doubt, that Olson killed those children. He should die for that, or at least so we never have to risk his hurting anyone again.
So let's ask if we can make a law that allows us to dispose of those we have no doubt about. I would point out that despite massive evidence there is just the slightest shred of doubt in the Pickton case. He would not be in jeopardy if we could create the correct law.
We can do that much.
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