Execution isn't path to a peaceful society



December 18, 2008

As Christians, church leaders and bishops in the Episcopal Church, we
urge the General Assembly to act to abolish the death penalty
("Report fuels death debate," Dec. 13).

As Christians, we are guided by the words of Jesus in the Sermon on
the Mount. Here he specifically rejects retribution by stating that
even the teaching in the Old Testament of "an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth" is to be rejected in favor of the teaching that
calls for reconciliation (Matthew, 6:38).

Responding to killing with more killing will not make society less
violent. Retaliating for death with death is not simply punishment
but a further justification of violence as a way of life. We simply
cannot kill our way out of the violence.

The uneven application of the death penalty also points to its
fundamental unfairness. And the reality is that, as a result of
prosecutorial discretion, the death penalty is most often used
against people of color and poorer people.

As Christians, we affirm the sanctity of every human life. We believe
this principle applies to people of many faiths, and join with our
sisters and brothers from other faiths in calling for society to
affirm the sanctity of all human life.

We further question whether humans have enough expertise and
knowledge that we can be certain about the evidence used to put
someone on death row.

As we learn that innocent people have been convicted and sentenced to
death, we have to ask: Can we ever say with certainty that we cannot
or will not execute innocent people?

We must all work for a less violent society. We need to ask ourselves
if having the death penalty makes us a less violent society.

We believe that it does precisely the opposite.

The United States stands with oppressive governments in its
insistence on using the death penalty. Yet we see no major reduction
in violence in our society.

Our intent should be to build a society that is less violent, one
where people are not subject to violence of any kind.

This will happen only as we address the matters that drive people to
violence.

The Rev. John L. RabbBaltimore The Rev. James J. ShandEaston

The writers are, respectively, the bishop suffragan of the Episcopal
Diocese of Maryland and the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton.