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Unlock This CourseIn Capital Punishment: Arguments For and Against you met the general ideas: capital punishment (also called the death penalty) is the legal killing of a person by the state as a punishment for a crime. In Christian Attitudes to Punishment and Its Aims you saw that Christians accept punishment as part of a just society. This lesson asks a harder question: can Christians support a punishment that ends a life?
Christians do not all agree. The Bible seems to point in different directions, and Christians give different weight to its teachings. Many Christians also say that the question must be weighed against the sanctity of life, the belief that every human life is holy and belongs to God.
Key terms:
The death penalty is the most serious punishment a state can use. Countries that use it usually keep it for the worst crimes, such as murder. People who support it point to its purposes: retribution (the wrongdoer gets what they deserve), protection (a person who has been executed cannot harm anyone again) and deterrence (the fear of it may stop others from committing the crime). Christians who think about these purposes ask whether they fit with what the Bible and the Church teach.
This verse says that whoever sheds human blood will have their own blood shed by humans, because humans are made in the image of God. Some Christians read this as a rule that a murderer should pay with their own life. They also say it shows how precious life is: murder is so serious that it deserves the most serious punishment.
Here Paul teaches that governing authorities are put in place by God. He says the ruler does not carry the sword for nothing: the ruler is God's servant, who punishes those who do wrong. Some Christians argue that this gives the state the right to use the death penalty for the worst crimes.
A third reason is justice. Some Christians believe that a murder takes away something that can never be repaid, so only the most serious punishment is fair. They add that the Old Testament law named death as the punishment for some crimes, and that the law was there to show how seriously God takes wrongdoing.
Support is found in some Protestant churches and among some individual Christians. Many of them say that the death penalty should be used only for the most serious crimes and only when guilt is certain.
Exodus 20:13 is one of the Ten Commandments. Some Christians believe it means that taking life is wrong, and that the state should not do what individuals are forbidden to do.
In John 8:1-11, a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus. The law of Moses said she could be stoned. Jesus said that anyone without sin should throw the first stone. Everyone left, and Jesus told her to go and sin no more. Many Christians see this as a call to mercy, not execution.
Christians believe a sinner can repent and be forgiven by God. Execution ends the chance to repent and to change, and it ends any chance of reformation.
Other reasons are linked to the sanctity of life. If life is a gift from God, many Christians say that only God should take it. They also say that people are made in God's image, even those who have done terrible things. A further reason is practical: a court can make a mistake (a miscarriage of justice), and an execution can never be undone.
For a long time, the Catholic Church taught that the state could use the death penalty in very rare cases, if it was the only way to protect people. In 2018 the Pope approved a change to the Catechism (the book that sets out Catholic teaching). It now says that the death penalty is inadmissible, because it is an attack on the dignity of the person, and that the Church works to end it all over the world. Catholics are therefore taught to oppose it. Other Christians, such as Quakers, who are pacifists, also oppose it, while some Protestant Christians still support it in limited cases. This is why you should never say "Christians believe..." about the death penalty without saying which Christians.
You studied Humanist views in Capital Punishment: Arguments For and Against. Here is a short reminder. Atheists do not believe in God, and there is no single atheist view, because atheists base their opinions on reason, evidence and their own values. Humanists are non-religious people who believe that people can live good lives without religion. Most Humanists oppose capital punishment because they believe in human rights, because an execution cannot be undone if a mistake is made, and because there is no clear proof that it deters crime better than other punishments. Some atheists support it, for example for retribution or protection.
The key difference is where the reasons come from. A Christian opponent may point to the Bible or Church teaching. A Humanist opponent will point to human rights and evidence. Both can reach the same conclusion by different routes.
Paper 1, Peace and Conflict.
(a) Identify three purposes of capital punishment. [3 marks] (AO1)
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two reasons why this religion is against the death penalty. [4 marks] (AO1)
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why there are different attitudes to capital punishment in this religion. [6 marks] (AO1, AO2)
(d) "Christians should never support the death penalty." Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks] (AO1, AO2)
(a) 1. Retribution (1) 2. Deterrence (1) 3. Protection of the public (1)
(b) Christianity. Exodus 20:13 says "You shall not murder" (1), which some Christians believe means that no one, including the state, should take a life (1). Christians believe that a sinner can repent (1), and execution ends the chance to repent and be forgiven (1).
(c) Some Christians support the death penalty because Genesis 9:6 says that whoever sheds human blood will have their own blood shed, and they read this as a punishment for murder. Romans 13:1-4 says that the ruler is God's servant who does not carry the sword for nothing, so they believe the state may use it. Other Christians oppose it because of the sanctity of life, and because Jesus showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). Since 2018 the Catholic Church has taught that the death penalty is inadmissible. Christians therefore differ because they give more weight to different parts of the Bible and to different Church teachings. (Level 2: correct teachings used to explain the difference.)
(d) Plan. For: Exodus 20:13 and the sanctity of life; Jesus' mercy in John 8:1-11; the chance to repent; the Catholic Church's teaching since 2018; the risk of a miscarriage of justice that cannot be undone. Against: Genesis 9:6 and Romans 13:1-4 are read by some Christians as allowing it; justice for the worst crimes; protection of the public; Christians do not all agree, and some Protestant Christians support it. Other view: Humanists oppose it on human rights grounds, which shows that you do not need a religion to oppose it. Conclusion (one possible): many Christians today oppose the death penalty, especially Catholics, but because some Christians still support it, the statement is too strong. It depends on which teachings and which Church a Christian follows.
In (b) and (c), name the text or teaching and say what it means for the death penalty. In (d), give at least one view that disagrees with the statement and end with a clear judgement.