Is The Death Penalty Intrinsically Evil?
And what exactly does "intrinsically evil" mean?
The Church has always defined intrinsically evil as something that has no redeeming qualities; under no circumstances is it ever authorized; it's never justified and no good can ever become of it. When you get right down to it, intrinsically evil is quite simply... evil. End of story.
I'm sure many of you have heard of the famous Five Non-Negotiables.
For those who have forgotten, they're:
1. Abortion
2. Euthanasia
3. Embryonic Stem Cell Research
4. Human Cloning
5. Homosexual “Marriage” Did you notice that the death penalty wasn't listed?
What prompted this posting, was I just read an article from Spero News concerning a criminal who will be executed next month for the sexual assault and murder of a three-year old. That's right... I said a three-year old.
I've consistently made no bones about it. I'm in favor of the death penalty under certain circumstances. And you know what? Under certain circumstances, so is The Church, as seen in this Declaration of the Holy See regarding the death penalty. And more of my posts citing the specific Church Teachings concerning the DP can be found here.
But anyhow, The Church simply can never declare the death penalty intrinsically evil any more than She could ever declare abortion to be moral.
I realize that the anti-DP crowd doesn't want to hear this... but that's really too bad. The truth is the truth.
And what exactly does "intrinsically evil" mean?
The Church has always defined intrinsically evil as something that has no redeeming qualities; under no circumstances is it ever authorized; it's never justified and no good can ever become of it. When you get right down to it, intrinsically evil is quite simply... evil. End of story.
I'm sure many of you have heard of the famous Five Non-Negotiables.
For those who have forgotten, they're:
2. Euthanasia
3. Embryonic Stem Cell Research
4. Human Cloning
5. Homosexual “Marriage”
What prompted this posting, was I just read an article from Spero News concerning a criminal who will be executed next month for the sexual assault and murder of a three-year old. That's right... I said a three-year old.
I've consistently made no bones about it. I'm in favor of the death penalty under certain circumstances. And you know what? Under certain circumstances, so is The Church, as seen in this Declaration of the Holy See regarding the death penalty. And more of my posts citing the specific Church Teachings concerning the DP can be found here.
But anyhow, The Church simply can never declare the death penalty intrinsically evil any more than She could ever declare abortion to be moral.
I realize that the anti-DP crowd doesn't want to hear this... but that's really too bad. The truth is the truth.
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
6:10 AM
5 Comments:
As a God fearing Traditional Roman Catholic, who refuses to bend my knee to the Roman-Protestants in the Church, allow me to simply say, "Flip the switch!"
And remember folks: Black goes to Negative; Red goes to Positive,"
Semper Fi
The minority report to Paul VI of the Birth Control Commission stated: "The Church can never change her teaching because it is true"
just read that in Kelly's 1990 "Keeping the Church Catholic"
Of related interest, the US Supreme Court will hear a case in which a piece of human offal was sentenced to death for raping a small child. If affirmed, it would be the first execution in 40+ years for a crime in which the victim wasn't killed.
Let's hope they send back a decision echoing prevat2's thought above.
Right on the mark CCM!
The only thing that might give me pause regarding the death penalty is the contention that poor black males are more likely to be executed. (Of course, the real solution to this is to execute more rich white women. I suppose it would be bad to suggest Streisand be first.)
I hear anti-death penalty folks say "what would Jesus do" as a means of cutting off debate.
But really, what would Jesus do? More accurately, what did Jesus do.
He was sentenced to death, as were the criminals on either side of him. Ehen the bad thief asked to be saved from death, Jesus ignored him. when the good thief asked to be accepted into the kingdom, Jesus accepted him, but he still died for his crime.
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