As the nation reels from yet another deadly shooting spree, this time at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., is urging mercy for convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad, saying his capital sentence should be commuted to life in prison without chance of parole.
The bishop called the lethal injection that Muhammad is scheduled to receive on Nov. 10 a "manifestation of despair," according to a CNS story.
"And in this despair, in advocating the use of the death penalty, our society has moved beyond the legitimate judgment of crimes," Bishop Loverde wrote in the Nov. 5 issue of the Arlington Catholic Herald. "Brothers and sisters, we are better than this. We are called to be more than slaves to despair; we are called to be heralds of hope."
Muhammad went on a three-week killing spree in the Washington, D.C., are in 2002 that left 10 people dead and three others wounded. His partner in killing, Lee Boyd Malvo, was 17 at the time and is already serving a life sentence.
Bishop Loverde touched on the difficulty of Church teaching on capital punishment, especially when the sometimes-normal reaction to such tragic crimes is a desire for revenge:
"It is understandable for us -- all of us, myself included -- to have these reactions, and to be outraged at the way in which innocent lives were so senselessly taken, with their families left to mourn and to ask questions which have no satisfactory answers...We are called to choose hope -- hope in redemption of an immortal soul -- over the despair embedded in the death penalty."
Click HERE to read the CNS story.
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I would ask the Bishop to consider the following:
God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother must certainly be put to death.' Mathew 15:4
Jesus: "So Pilate said to (Jesus), "Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?" Jesus answered (him), "You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above." John 19:10-11
Jesus: Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Jesus) replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23: 39-43
Jesus: "You have heard the ancients were told, ˜YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER" and "Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court". But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, "Raca", shall be guilty before the supreme court and whoever shall say, "You fool", shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell." Matthew 5:17-22.
The Holy Spirit: God, through the power and justice of the Holy Spirit, executed both Ananias and his wife, Saphira. Their crime? Lying to the Holy Spirit - to God - through Peter. Acts 5:1-11.
The Word of God: Numbers 35: Note the words "shall" and "surely". What do you think they mean?
16 ‘But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 ‘If he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 ‘Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he might die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 ‘The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. 20 ‘If he pushed him of hatred, or threw something at him lying in wait and as a result he died, 21 or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death, he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
Here is the full context http://nasb.scripturetext.com/numbers/35.htm
From a biblical and theological standpoint, can God contradict Himself on this issue, with regard to His teachings in the Old Testament as compared to the New?
No, God does not contradict himself. But one thing we must understand that God speaks to socially and culturally changing circumstances. E.g. He specifically forbid humans to execute the brother murderer Kain.
I highly recommend Recinella, D. The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty, North Eastern University Press, Lebanon, NH. This book analyses in great detail all the scripture passages even remotely related to capital punishment.
I am very familiar with Recinella and his book.
We have had several exchanges. He is a very poor source.
Try this: The title is a bit misleading, There are many Christian scholars as well as a few secular ones.
"Death Penalty Support: Modern Catholic Scholars"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-support-modern-catholic.html
Yes, God forbid the execution of Cain, but then He executed all of umankind, except for Noah and his family.
He executed all of humankind because they were sinners, the overwlemhing majority of who had never murdered anyone.
Dudley is correct. And further, the current position on the death penalty from Rome will one day vanish as it should since it was a strategy within the seamless garment of life idea to get secular liberals to love the church and thus give up abortion in gratitude which strategy failed like all get out.
If one actually reads Evangelium Vitae, one sees that John Paul II saw the Cain immunity case as relevant for us while he no where ackowledges that the same God mandated numerous death penalties for the Jews but also for murder for Gentiles in Genesis 9:5-6 right after the Cain period. In EV, John Paul never cites Romans 13:3-4 which was instrumental in Catholicism supporting the death penalty from the time of the canon when it was affirmed as from God....until 1952 when Pius XII again affirmed it while having an even more secure modern penology than we have now.
Even in light of Rome's current explanation of why we don't need it now...we actually do need it now based on those very same reasons. Life sentences are not protecting society because district courts have forced lifers to have the right of mail and phone contact.
In Newark, this meant a lifer drug king pin could by phone order the murder of a 12 year old boy who testified against him. Where were the last two Popes when that took place? Did they notice it and then open themselves up to the possibility that they could be incorrect since the Church supported the death penalty from Augustine til 1969 (in papal Vatican city law requiring the death penalty if one assasinated a Pope).
Where John Paul II went wrong was that he issued a sociological mandate against the death penalty while doing no cited research on the issue from country to country.
George Weigel stated in his official biography of John Paul II that he never read newspapers. That would explain why he was unaware of our 12 year old hero in Newark...and unaware of a plethora of data on this issue which he should have researched and gave no evidence anywhere that he did such research. His position did not aim at infallibility and yet his worshippers cling to this bad idea as though it was.
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