The Death Penalty
Definition:
Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the execution (killing) of a person by the state as punishment for a crime. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital origins from Latin capitalis, literally “regarding the head” (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime originally was to be punished by the loss of the head. Wikipedia
Bible References
The first five books of the Old Testament required the death penalty for many transgressions, both civil and religious. (See Exod. 21, 22, 35; Lev. 20 & 24; Deut. 21-24.)
In the New Testament, Christ’s teaching emphasizes forgiveness and the development of the willingness to suffer evil rather than to resist it by force. This may not be definitive on the issue of the state’s authority to execute, but it does demonstrate a different approach to responding to evil than that of the Old Testament. In not demanding death for the woman caught in the act of adultery, the Lord demonstrated the attitude he taught, which supports the argument against the death penalty. “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” John 8:7
Facts
Capital punishment is a controversial issue, even amongst Christians. Proponents argue that it deters crime, prevents recidivism, is cheaper than imprisonment and is the only appropriate form of punishment for the worst crimes, such as murder.
Opponents of capital punishment argue that it has led to the execution of many wrongfully convicted people, that it discriminates against minorities, the poor and the developmentally disabled, that it does not deter criminals, that it is more expensive than imprisonment, and that it violates human rights. Furthermore it degrades the society that practices it by desensitising it to the sacredness of human life.
Federal Policy
Officially, the Australian Government has a long-standing principled opposition to capital punishment. The Federal Government abolished the death penalty in 1973, and the last execution had taken place six years earlier, in 1967.
Australia, along with New Zealand and Timor, has signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which declares it a fundamental human right not to be executed. It prohibits the execution of anyone under the law of a ratifying country. The protocol also implicitly prohibits the reintroduction of the death penalty.
Australia annually co-sponsors a resolution of the UN Human Rights Commission that calls for all nations to abolish the death penalty, e.g. The Question of the Death Penalty (20 April 2005) UN Document E/CN.4/RES/2005/59.
In December 2007, Australia voted for the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty.
The nearby neighbouring countries of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia all have the mandatory death penalty for a number of crimes, and regularly execute foreigners who break their laws. There are currently 6 Australians on death row waiting for execution in China (1), Indonesia (3), and Vietnam (2).
NSW State policy
The last execution in NSW took place in 1940. But although the death penalty for murder was abolished in NSW in 1955, it was the last state to completely abolish the death penalty when in 1985 capital punishment was abolished for treason and piracy: Crimes Amendment (Death Penalty Abolition) Act 1985 (NSW).
What can we do?
Rev Hon Dr Gordon Moyes, as an ordained Christian minister, believes that the death penalty denies the power of Christ to redeem, restore and transform all human beings. He teaches “the Old Testament was for the people of the Old Covenant, not for Christians. Many Christians get confused about this, as they try to follow both the old and new covenants. But Christians are to live by the law of love under God’s grace. The night before he died, Jesus instituted a New Covenant, which was to be sealed in his blood. This provided a new relationship with God (Luke 22.20, 1 Corinthians 11:25; Galatians 4; Hebrews 9). Under the New Covenant our behaviour will be different as Jesus announces in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6,7). We have a New Commandment, to love others, even those who wrong us, or society. (John 14:15; John 15:12; Galatians 5:14). This makes no room for judicial murder of other people. Judgment on them will come from God. Christians are expected to pray for their conversion and change of heart. They may be imprisoned, but there is no permission to kill them.”
We believe all human life is sacred and created by God and therefore, we must see all human life as significant and valuable. When governments implement the death penalty, the life of the convicted person is devalued. All possibility of change in that person’s life ends. Christians believe that the possibility of reconciliation with Christ comes through repentance. This belief gives all life new dignity, and sacredness. It believes that no person is beyond redemption. For this reason, although there is no consensus on the issue, many Christians oppose the death penalty.
Concerned Christians can make their anti-death penalty stance known through writing to their Federal and State legislators, to Attorneys General at Federal and State level, letters to the editor, ringing talk back radio, and/or becoming involved in community and church groups working against the re-introduction of the death penalty in Australia.
Resources
Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning: Erik C. Owens John D. Carlson & Eric P. Elshtain (editors) Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (August 2004)
Capital Punishment and the Bible: Gardner C. Hanks. Herald Press (February 2002)
Against the Death Penalty: Christian and Secular Arguments Against Capital Punishment: Gardner C. Hanks. Herald Press (October 1997)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12565a.htm
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=12151
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment
The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2004. The United Methodist Publishing House.
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=6385
http://www.religioustolerance.org/exe_bibl1.htm
http://www.nswccl.org.au/issues/death_penalty/death_row.php
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/church-urges-australian-government-to-oppose-death-penalty/3649.htm
