Religion And Capital Punishment
"God did not invent death, and when living creatures die it gives him no pleasure. He created everything so that it might continue to exist…" (WIS 1:13-14) In the world today, unfortunately, there exists a small minority of humans who believe it appropriate to have the power to take away another individual’s most fundamental right, namely the right to life, through the criminal "justice" process. Upon successful conviction, this process, in some jurisdictions, allows "murderers" to be sentenced to a penalty of death. This raises the important question of the moral ramifications of capital punishment in the eyes of the Catholic Church, God, and the entire body of creatures known as ...
Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers
|
opening quote of this paper comes directly from the Holy Bible. It suggests to the reader that God did not make death and He doesn’t delight in the death of a human being, regardless of the cause. The Holy Bible is one of the best places to find information about death and how to treat capital punishment. In setting out the ten commandments, one of its best known passages, in the Bible it is stated that: "Thou shalt not kill." (Dt. 5:17). This is not a conditional statement. Rather, it is direct, to the point, and does not incorporate any modifiers. God does not say, thou shalt not kill…unless the person you are killing has killed someone else. In this context, one must realize what capital punishment, the direct termination of a person’s life by artificial means as a penalty for a crime committed, namely murder, is a violation of the fifth commandment. It is clear to see that the Bible itself, and consequently God, condemns the imposition of the death penalty.
Dr. ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
of God. Having said this, it clearly should not be a human’s decision whether to punish another person by death. That right lies in God’s hands alone. If one does enact the death penalty, than he is no better than the person who committed the murderous act in the first place.
"God, who preferred the correction rather than the death of a sinner, did not desire that a homicide be punished by the exaction of another homicide." (Evangelium Vitae, Para. 9). This statement refers to God’s punishment of Cain who killed his brother Abel in the book of Genesis. This sentence from Evangeluim Vitae displays the notion that God would rather see a person rehabilitated or sentenced to a ...
Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
Religion And Capital Punishment. (2004, October 15). Retrieved April 24, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Religion-And-Capital-Punishment/15894
"Religion And Capital Punishment." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 15 Oct. 2004. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Religion-And-Capital-Punishment/15894>
"Religion And Capital Punishment." Essayworld.com. October 15, 2004. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Religion-And-Capital-Punishment/15894.
"Religion And Capital Punishment." Essayworld.com. October 15, 2004. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Religion-And-Capital-Punishment/15894.
|
Save
Report