Death Penalty & Religion?

Often we hear the Bible quoted as a justification for capital punishment: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (from Leviticus 24:20; also Exodus 21:24). This follows a more direct passage: "Whoever takes the life of any human being shall be put to death" (Leviticus 24:17).

The well-known "eye for eye" passage was originally intended to limit violence by reducing the escalation of violence. In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus disallows even that limited violence.

There are those who cite the Mosaic Law in defense of capital punishment without acknowledging what the Mosaic Law states about evidence, perjury, etc. The Bible offers no support for capital punishment as implemented in the United States, unless you want to argue such things as Jesus' or Paul's submission to the Roman state's legal judgments against them proves that the Bible is open to capital punishment period (at which rate you'd have to acknowledge that it can execute you for your beliefs).

The Bible has the following requirements, which we don't have:

1) 2 credible eye witnesses

2) Perjury and knowingly filing false charges against someone are punished by the sentence for the crime for which the defendant is accused.

3) Prosecutors, police and judges are fully accountable to the defendant under point #2.

4) The courts had the legal authority to sentence perjurious witnesses on the spot the moment the defense could prove their perjury.

In America:

People can be executed on circumstantial evidence in most states.

Witnesses are optional, not the core of the prosecution's case.

Prosecutors are almost completely legally immune for anything they do to a defendant, including withholding exculpatory evidence from their defense counsel. Police are not far behind them.

Perjury is almost never punished, and when it is, the punishment is usually just a felony record and a few years in prison no matter the circumstances of the perjury.

Prosecutors frequently rely on criminal witnesses, especially "jailhouse snitches" who are "witnesses" of such low moral caliber that no normal person in their right mind should believe them.

There you have it. I am totally down with my fellow Christians remaining in support of the death penalty ... provided that they also adopt the Bible's standards for prosecuting serious crimes.

Religion And The Death Penalty

My opinions on the death penalty don't come from my religious beliefs and certainly not from sympathy for criminals. I’m against the death penalty because it isn’t effective in reducing overall crime, costs a whole lot more than life in prison, and, worst of all, risks executions of innocent people.

I can't understand how people who who describe themselves as religious can ignore the fact that human beings are fallible and human institutions are bound to get it wrong some of the time. The death penalty is certainly no exception and it buries its worst mistakes.

I am a Christian and although I think some people may deserve to die for their crimes (which I assume I feel that way because "the heart of man is desperately wicked" as the Bible says), I think the death penalty is a way to get "vengeance" on someone for what they did or make them suffer for it, which is wrong because the Bible says in Romans 12:19 that vengeance belongs to God and he will repay it. But ofcourse, politically, I think most people would think it's okay -______-

Those death penalty verses are based in the Mosaic law. You know what they used it for? Stuff as minor in a legal sense as mouthing off to your parents or not separating your grains properly.

As a Muslim, I wouldn't say I value life any less, but I value it differently than most Westerners. My identities as an American and a Muslim don't really conflict at all here because both emphasize the need for justice. If someone murders another human being, the principle that they should give up what they were prepared to take makes sense to me. Besides, how is multiple life sentences in prison more humane than just killing them? Inmates kill each other all the time and just get put back in the slammer. The prison system would be a lot cleaner if they were executed.

1) No, don't kill 'em. Just lock 'em up forever, they won't do no harm when they're in jail. 2) Atheist. I'm not just a non-believer, I'm also against religion in general because it causes a lot of problems and wars in the world, and also because it's the biggest bullshit ever made up by man kind.

I'm torn on this, but probably shouldn't be. Politically I'm for the death penalty. But as a Christian, I should be against it, I think.

While I am an atheist, even I am aware that "Thou Shalt Not Kill" did not have an asterisk placed next to it.

Using other biblical quotes (which come from the voices of men as opposed to supposedly being the direct word of god) to justify breaking one of the basic tenents of their religion is, to me, quite hypocritical.

Follower of Christ,not religious,I don't agree with putting people to death,imprisonment is death in its own personal way.