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Post by Ed B on Oct 12, 2008 21:31:22 GMT -6
Hello, I am a 17 year old from Texas and i am writing a paper on the effects of religion on Death penalty policy in the United States. I am looking for the official positions of religions on the death penalty, specifically religions that are for it. If you could point me in the direction of religions that are pro death penalty, or (even better) a direct link to an official page.
thank you! Ed
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2008 21:47:14 GMT -6
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Post by Ed B on Oct 13, 2008 10:12:33 GMT -6
Thank you, these are good. I want to include a section in my paper about the current movement of born again Christians or evangelical Christians. Where can i find any official statements, be it a group of churches, a single church, or even a single influential leader.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2008 10:18:57 GMT -6
Thank you, these are good. I want to include a section in my paper about the current movement of born again Christians or evangelical Christians. Where can i find any official statements, be it a group of churches, a single church, or even a single influential leader. I found those by googling the name of the denomination that I knew of, along with the words death penalty. ex: "Southern Baptist Convention death penalty" What denominations do you think are born again or evangelical? I don't know. You can google in the same way with those, and see if any official statements are posted to the internet.
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Post by Lotus Flower on Oct 15, 2008 16:43:46 GMT -6
What denominations do you think are born again or evangelical? I don't know. Evangelical denominations are: Protestant, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist and Church of Christ. Though not all Church of Christ are evangelical...have to find the church. The Pew Forum had a conference on Religion and the Death Penalty that may be of use and has a paper on the outcome of the conference: pewforum.org/deathpenalty/resources/reader/26.phpHere is a speech given by Rev. Pat Robertson regarding the death penalty: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/PRobertsonWMSpeech.pdfConsider doing searches for other evangelical Christian leaders such as Jerry Falwell (deceased Pastor), Billy and Frankly Graham (no explanation needed), Harold O'Chester (retired Pastor, Great Hills Baptist Church, Austin, TX), Ed Young (Pastor, Second Baptist, Houston), Tim and Beverly LeHaye (Author of Left Behind series and involved in Concerned Women for America), Phyllis Schlafly (founder, Eagle Forum) and James Dobson (Founder, Focus on the Family). Lastly, Mike Huckabee, former presidential candidate was also a former Southern Baptist Pastor. I do not know if they have searchable quotes on the internet, but I do not believe I've left many ppl I left out of the evangelical sphere. The others I can think of, I would doubt you would find a position on the dp, as they were more into the prophetical or theological teachings of applying the Bible to daily living. Ahhh... this was like a blast from the past when typing this! ;D Scary.
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Post by honeyroastedpeanut on Oct 16, 2008 11:51:50 GMT -6
You asked for pro-dp religious groups but - if it helps you - here's the "official" position of the vatican towards the dp taken from the encyclical letter "Evangelium vitae", March 25 th 1995 by John Paul II: "This is the context in which to place the problem of the death penalty. On this matter there is a growing tendency, both in the Church and in civil society, to demand that it be applied in a very limited way or even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity and thus, in the end, with God's plan for man and society. The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is "to redress the disorder caused by the offence".46 Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her freedom. In this way authority also fulfils the purpose of defending public order and ensuring people's safety, while at the same time offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her behaviour and be rehabilitated. 47 It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent. In any event, the principle set forth in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church remains valid: "If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person".48" Source: www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0141/__PP.HTM (Para 56)
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