Rorschach Religion

Some Death Penalty views from people who self identified as Christian and "very religious"

"The Death Penalty should be imposed in every case where someone deliberately takes the life of another"

"The word of God says, "Thou shall not kill"

"The Death Penalty is used too seldom in this State [a very active killing state] - there are very few death penalties relative to the number of heinous crimes"

"Only God decides, not us"

"The Death Penalty is used too seldom in this State" "If someone chooses to take a life, the penalty should be to take their life"

"Victims and families of victims do not experience any sustaining fulfilling relief after "avenging" those who have wronged them"

"I believe that there are people that have a bad soul and cannot be forgiven" "The Death Penalty should be imposed in every case where someone deliberately takes the life of another"

"God forgives everyone but there area always consequences we must face for our actions" "If we impose the death penalty and he or she does not know Jesus, then we send a soul to hell and Satan wins" "Humans categorize sin and it's not our job. In God's eyes sin is sin and he can forgive us."

"Zealously Religious" "The Death Penalty should be imposed in every case where someone deliberately takes the life of another"

"The death penalty gives people employed by the government the right to kill a killer to show that killing is wrong. We can't create or destroy life and judgment is reserved for God"

Reading through these got me thinking about something the mindful mission posted a while back on the differences between the Religious Right and the Religious who aren't the Religious Right, and some of my thoughts on the efforts by the religious right to co-opt Caesar's means of enforcing certain behaviors. Note that the anti-death penalty people cite to doctrine or the Bible; the pro-death penalty folks don't (except for the "bad soul" person). The article cited above brings out part of why that is.

Jack
Jack