After Troy Davis: The Religious Belief Breakdown on the Death Penalty

[struggle4progress]

September 22, 2011 2:13PM
Tobin Grant

... Public opinion on the death penalty has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades. According to polls by Gallup, support for the death penalty was highest in the late 1980's and early 1990's. At that time, 80 percent of Americans said they favored executing murderers. Since then, support has dropped to 64 percent.

A 2010 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found support for the death penalty was very high among white evangelicals. Much of these differences were due to race or ethnicity. Three-quarters of evangelicals favor the use of capital punishment. White Mainline Protestants had a similar level of support. Only 60 percent of Catholics approve of the death penalty, but this lower level of support is due to Hispanic Catholics. (only 43 percent support). Black Protestants are the most opposed to the death penalty, with only a third approving of the death penalty ...

Many Americans say their views on the death penalty are shaped by their religious beliefs. Pew asked what was the most influential on people's thinking on this issue. Catholics were the most likely to say their beliefs were the most important (34 percent). Around one-quarter of evangelicals and Black Protestants also said their beliefs were most important. Mainline Protestants were the least likely to cite their beliefs.

There is almost no difference between evangelicals who say they are influenced by their beliefs and those who do not. Around 70 percent of both kinds of evangelicals support the death penalty. Evangelicals who cite religious beliefs are most influential to them are the same as those who say their views are shaped most by personal experience, education, the median, family, friends, or anything else. For other Protestants and Catholics, religious beliefs make them more opposed to the death penalty. Catholics who say they are most influenced by their beliefs oppose the death penalty ...

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2011/09/after_troy_davi.html

[Swede Atlanta]

1. Faux Christians.........

If they are true believers in Christ they would "turn the other cheek" and "forgive their neighbor".

Capital punishment is wrong on a number of levels.

1. Revenge - it is seen by some victim families and friends as a way to gain closure. I suggest a good dose of prayer and therapy is better than perpetuating the killing
2. Error - as in the Troy Davis case, errors are made and innocent men and women are convicted and sentenced to die. Once you kill them you have no way to redress the wrong
3. Personal beliefs - Some don't want tax dollars used to pay for abortions. I strongly oppose my tax dollars being used to execute anyone
4. Cruel and unusual punishment - If we are to be a civilized society (which we are not), the death penalty must be abolished. We are the only advanced country that still maintains this archaic system
5. Ineffective - this method of "justice" is ineffective. The number of violent crimes continues to climb despite the threat of capital punishment. It is not a deterrent
6. Cost - the cost of pursuing a capital case is nearly 5 x that of a life sentence

We need to rise above this and civilize ourselves.

[darkstar3]

3. And those same people would tell you that you were a faux Christian.

Without a definition of the word to go on (and really, no one here can agree on one), we're left with only one option: self-identification.

You can call them assholes. You can call them borderline sociopaths. You can lots of nasty names to describe just how much you disagree with them, but the one thing you can't call them is "faux Christians," because you don't get to decide what Christian means.

[customerserviceguy]

2. From what you cite

There's still nearly two-thirds of the country in favor of the DP, and that may well rise as the baby boomers enter old age and feel especially vulnerable.

It's not going away any time soon, Troy Davis or no Troy Davis. His case didn't convince too many people to switch sides.

[NMMNG]

4. But we were told that support for or against the death penalty

was a moral belief, not a religious one. Funny, but so many religious people tell us that religion and morality are inextricably linked, if not one and the same. That's why atheists are allegedly without morality, and why LGBT rights are considered a moral issue, and most ardently opposed by religious people.

I can't help but notice that the largest percentage of executions in the US are carried out in the Bible Belt. That says something about the link between religious fervor and vindictiveness. Or maybe it just counteracts the claim that religion correlates with morality and good behavior. Perhaps both...