The Death Penalty

[Danmark]

There are many reasons to oppose the death penalty
There are reasons to support it.
I have one reason that is paramount to me, for opposing the death penalty.
As far as I know it is not one that is usually debated. It is not specifically a religious reason, but I believe it comes from several sources, including what I'll refer to as "core Christianity."
For the purpose of this debate, I am opposed to the death penalty for any purpose or crime, not on the grounds of fairness, or cost/benefit analysis, or justice. I am opposed to the death penalty because it brutalizes us personally and as a society.

It is hard to think of a more cold blooded, more calculating, more premeditated killing, than the death penalty as carried out in the United States.

[bluethread]

[Replying to post 36 by bluethread]

Don't you think there are other ways to mitigate that other than killing people. What if the person was coerced by other inmates to lie or be shanked? For most situations the current purgery laws work just fine. What you are talking about is someone who already is in a max sentence and no more time can be added. Killing them isn't the only way to prevent them from giving false testimony. This seems like such a unique hypothetical, are there any real world examples you can provide?

There is that little thing called due process. That also applies to a perjury case. You have a right to your view on current perjury laws, but perjury is often used as a justification by those who oppose the death penalty.

[DanieltheDragon]

[Replying to post 41 by bluethread]

So we should expand the death penalty to justify giving the death penalty? I think this is starting to become an erroneous side point. So are we to use the death penalty to coerce people now or is it to give vengeance? What are you really trying to get at here?

[help3434]

No, I just referred to one of the drawbacks of jailhouse testimony that can be mitigated by making the penalty for perjury equal to the penalty for the crime to which the perjury relates.

In other words, you're suggesting the death penalty for perjury in certain cases?
This sounds so "Old Testament."
Maybe this explain why, out of 15 votes, no one religious opposes the death penalty
Only SOME of the crimes that earned the death penalty:

Consuming blood (Genesis 9:4), Leviticus 17:10[13]
Eating a cheeseburger or anything that mixes meat and dairy (Exodus 23:19)
Sacrificing anything with yeast or honey (Leviticus 2:11)
Eating leavened bread (bread with yeast) during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15)
Eating fat (Leviticus 3:17)
Eating pork (Leviticus 11:7-8)
Waiting too long before consuming sacrifices (Leviticus 19:5-8)
Eating aquatic creatures lacking fins or scales (Deuteronomy 14:9-10)
Eating any meat not killed according to the Kosher practice (Deuteronomy 12:21)
Eating peace offerings while ritually unclean (Leviticus 7:20)

Being a male who is not circumcised. (Genesis 17:14)
Trying to convert people to another religion (Deuteronomy 13:1-11, Deuteronomy 18:20)[14]
Worshiping idols (Exodus 22:20, Leviticus 20:1-5, Deuteronomy 17:2-7)
Practicing magic (Exodus 22:18)[15]
Blaspheming (Leviticus 24:14-16, 23)
Breaking the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14, Numbers 15:32-36)
Consulting a psychic or spiritualist (Leviticus 19:31)
Being a psychic, medium or spiritualist (Leviticus 20:27)[16]
Being a town that believes in another, non-YHWH god (Deuteronomy 13:12-15)[17]
Giving one of your descendants to Molech (Leviticus 20:2)[18]
Not being a priest and going near the tabernacle when it is being moved (Numbers 1:51)

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_ac ... _the_Bible

But He LOVES us.

Prohibited by the Bible doesn't always mean a death penalty was commanded by the Bible. None of the offenses in the first group were punishable by death according to the Bible (except for maybe the first one I don't know if "cut him off" refers to exile or execution)