Death Penalty Controversy
I am one of the Californians responsible for the fact that “the polls indicate an overwhelming support for capital punishment,” and I resent being characterized as “degraded by a lust for death.”
In rethinking assumptions, Father Wood trots out the same tired army of sociological, religious and emotional straw men that have gone up against the idea of capital punishment in the past and failed to change the majority mind-set.
May I suggest some other assumptions that seem to be held by a majority of Californians that are much more relevant to the issue?
1. Murder (the unlawful and malicious killing of one person by another) is the ultimate crime--not only against the victim, but against society.
2. The ultimate crime deserves the ultimate punishment. It is not only within the legitimate authority of the state to impose this punishment, it is the duty of the state to do so. This action by the state is slandered when it is described as “violence” used to deal with violence.
3. Points 1 and 2 above are neither un-Christian nor uncivilized. Also they are not fundamentally incompatible with the “new moral vision” that the author pleads for.
JERRY SWEERS
Claremont
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