Capital Punishment

The State of California is currently in a de-facto moratorium on capital punishment.  The thing that repeatedly comes to my mind concerning capital punishment is that most of those that support capital punishment are people that report to be christians.  I have had conversations with people that are somehow able to resolve their divergent views, and the mental process is quite frankly, very revealing.

There is no doubt that Jesus spoke repeatedly about the sanctity of human life.  The bible does not make exceptions to the “thou shat not kill.”  There are exceptions in man's law i.e. self defense.  but the same people that advocate for the saving of the “un-born” are many of the same people that are in favor of death penalty.  How?  It turns out that they are able to dissociate humanity.  This dissociation is insidious, and has been used for multiple crimes against humanity: genocide, slavery, and torture.  I was told that “these people have abdicated their right to be called human” and therefore, it then becomes acceptable to violate their humanity thru death and torture.  

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights: among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  These words are the beginning of the enlightened document used to separate this country from tyrannical rule.  The Declaration of Independence!  This document predates the constitution; however, it set the stage for the American democracy experiment.

The founders understood that humanity is neither given or taken by men, rather it endowed by that person's creator, and is “inalienable”  Like all of us, these men were imperfect in their real world execution of their beliefs.  (witness the continuation of slavery)  However, this does not dismiss the principals from which this country was founded.  

It is time that the people of this country look back at their core principals and realize the ultimate humanity that is inalienable in all of us.  All of us are imperfect, but as a matter of principal, murder should never be acceptable.  As with self-defense, it can at times be understandable, but it should not be acceptable.  The death penalty is only ever about retribution.

The taking of a life in the case of the death penalty cannot be mitigated by an argument of self defense.  Even the most dangerous and violent criminal who is so pathological that they are a danger to all can be controlled by solitary confinement.  At that point, they can be treated with dignity and respect due a fellow human being.  As a society, as a matter of philosophy and policy, murder should not be committed in a cold blooded manner in our name.  When is happens, we are all lessened by the commission.  As a society, our humanity as been lowered to the lowest common denominator where murder has become acceptable human behavior.