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So what is it then? My answer is, it's all about control. The fiction of authoritarian Christianity is that it can (or should) control society and human behavior outside its own in-group. And that control is often iron-fisted and hateful, channeling the wrath of god upon the wicked. It is like a human manifestation of their simplistic black and white belief that a small carrot and a big stick is actually effective in motivating people to be their best selves. It feels good to them. It feels like vindication or something.
Racial and ethnic disparities in the employment of the death sentence have been significant in scope over the long arc of American history. The main cause is due to the pervasive societal prejudice in southern counties.
More than twice as many people were put to death in the South between 1866 and 1945 as there were in the Northeast.[22] Local law enforcement and segregated juries continued to be pillars of racial discipline for a century after the Civil War.[23]
Research demonstrates that black Americans' executions closely resemble lynchings, if only because killing a white person while black increases the likelihood of receiving the death penalty by a factor of up to seven.[24] Another demonstration of societal prejudice is when four Atlanta police officers visited Rosa South's house in 1940 and took her 16-year-old son, Quintar South, away to be interrogated.[25] Ten days later, a newspaper revealed that an officer had used an electric iron to torture the child in order to coerce a confession. This case highlights three aspects of the history of police torture of African Americans which inevitably led to biased punishment. First, juries in the South declined to convict police officers accused of engaging in this type of racial violence. Next, African American media, witnesses, and victims questioned police torture. Finally, white southern elites criticized police torture techniques, albeit ineffectively.[26]
A death penalty is nothing less than state sponsored murder. A crime cannot be punished with crime.
No we should not go to war to kill, and yes we should defend our country. That includes diplomatic and trade relations with other nations, and a military to keep peace and security.
Yes let God judge those who do violence and She will in her own time.
The violent (like Genesis 6:11 B ) will be destroyed forever - Psalms 92:7; 104:35; 145:20; Proverbs 2:21-22
How can the death penalty be murder when the death penalty is handed out for murder ?
Rather, the death penalty is an execution for murder.
Thus, there is a BIG difference between killing, murder and an execution for the sake of righteousness.
55% of religiously unaffiliated still support the death penalty. 60% of US adults favor it. Why whould Christians lag behind? https://www.pewresearch.org/short-re...death-penalty/
If it is found that the executed person was wrongfully prosecuted, sentenced, and killed, that would indeed be murder, it would be illegal killing. And that happens.
That is, essentially, the question that is being asked by pointing out that Jesus was unlikely to support death penalties.
Huh? I am wondering what you call the 'words from Jesus' mouth' as found at Revelation 19:14-15; Isaiah 11:3-4 ?
Jesus does not comment on the death penalty or anything else in the passage in Revelation; he is merely described. And Jesus has nothing to say in Isaiah, either. You doubtless see that passage as a Messianic prophecy, so let's just run with that for the sake of argument, and not debate who the passage actually refers to.
Granting those assumptions, both of these passages describe a fearsome, judgment-wielding End-Times Jesus but do not -- as you do -- put words in his mouth about whether humans should wield the death penalty today. That you have to reach that far and claim Jesus actually said anything much less what you wish he said, is rather telling.
We already knew from the account of the fig tree Jesus found offensive and impertinent, despite it not even being in season, for not having fruit for him to partake of, that Jesus can be cranky (or at least "hangry"). We already know from the incident with the temple money-changers that he can be wrathful. What of it?
The gospels ALSO tell us of a Jesus who said, "“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” and that if you do this to the lowliest of persons, you do it to and for him. And yet many, MANY Christians in the US think immigrants are here to rape and pillage and should not be given refuge, or treated humanely for that matter.
I think that some Christians like Angry Jesus better than Kind Jesus, and ought to consider why that would be.
The violent (like Genesis 6:11 B ) will be destroyed forever - Psalms 92:7; 104:35; 145:20; Proverbs 2:21-22
How can the death penalty be murder when the death penalty is handed out for murder ?
Rather, the death penalty is an execution for murder.
Thus, there is a BIG difference between killing, murder and an execution for the sake of righteousness.
Death penalty should be outlawed. Most advanced nations have done away with capital punishment.
Huh? I am wondering what you call the 'words from Jesus' mouth' as found at Revelation 19:14-15; Isaiah 11:3-4 ?
I see nothing there about the death penalty as wielded by the state.
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