As they question the surviving suspect in the Boston bombings from last week, there is talk in the media about giving him the death penalty if convicted.\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n
For me the answer is simple, no!<\/p>\n
If you have read my website and blog and\/or are familiar with Catholic Teaching on the Death Penalty this should be no surprise to you.\u00a0 I write today to remind you of what I and the Catholic Church teach about the death penalty.<\/p>\n
I wrote about the death penalty when Saddam Hussein was executed.\u00a0 That article (“Saddam Hussein and the Death Penalty<\/a>“) is on my website.\u00a0 I encourage you to read that article as I feel it really sums up how I feel about the death penalty.<\/p>\n Assuming the suspect is proving guilty in the Boston bombings, there is no doubt that he did a terrible thing.\u00a0 I don’t believe the death penalty would do anything to “make things better.”\u00a0 <\/em>We are to be a people of justice.\u00a0 Pursing the death penalty always seems to me to be more a question of revenge.\u00a0 Revenge flows from anger<\/a> and anger<\/a> is a sin.<\/p>\n An eye for an eye sounds just.\u00a0 It can be but who is going to be the first to break the cycle of returning evil for evil?\u00a0 We say murder is wrong because it denies the gift of life.\u00a0 We must respect all <\/em>life.<\/p>\n