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Posted by Brian Tubbs Nov 15, 2007 |
Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, the former African archbishop, says that the death penalty makes killing "acceptable" and "encourages the doctrine of revenge." He is calling on the nations of the world to "remove government-sanctioned violence."
Tutu's call for a global ban on the death penalty coincides with a United Nations General Assembly resolution urging the same, and it brings up the age-old question of what the Christian community's stand should be concerning the death penalty.
The answer to that question, of course, depends on what a professing Christian does with the Bible.
The mosaic code is replete with capital crimes. Of course, Christians now believe they are in the Age of Grace and the sometimes severe and punitive specifics of the Old Testament law no longer apply.
Even so, Paul tells the church in Rome (the seat of imperial authority in Paul's day) that the government "bears the sword" to "execute wrath for judgment sake" (Romans 13). In other words, the government wields the power to take life - and does so to protect the innocent. This passage has rightly been interpreted to sanction government's right to - in certain circumstances - impose the death penalty and wage war.
Many professing Christians today, however, regard the Bible as little more than a conversation-starter, if that. Desmond Tutu appears to be in that camp. For these Christians, biblical allowance of the death penalty is neither binding nor authoritative.
It will be interesting to watch and see how this issue continues to play out, but the world as a whole is moving away from the death penalty. At least for now. Interestingly enough, ending the death penalty isn't (as yet) translating into a reduction of violence or bloodshed. That will require more than a UN resolution or an international law.