"Christians should oppose the death penalty!" "No! The Bible supports capital punishment for murderers!"

This fiery exchange between two committed Christians is typical of the debate raging all around Zambia these days, as people argue about the legal desirability and the moral acceptability of capital punishment. Zambian law provides for the death penalty for those convicted of murder, treason, and aggravated robbery, and many criminals have been executed by hanging in this country during the colonial days and up through the 1980s.

But between 1987 and 1997, there were no executions in Zambia. Then one Saturday in January 1997, the gallows at Mukobeko Prison put eight prisoners to death. This has opened afresh the debate about capital punishment.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace has mounted a national campaign for the abolition of the death penalty. Many people have asked what are the reasons for such a position. Why does the Catholic Church now teach that the death penalty is not an acceptable position to be supported by Christians?

DIFFERENT POSITIONS

To begin with, a Catholic looks at the question of capital punishment from the perspective of the teaching of the Church. In this teaching, there is a rich tradition of a mixed character, some pro and some con, and it finds its foundation first in the scripture and then in the social teaching of the church.

It is clear that we Catholics are called to reject capital punishment from the perspective of our faith.

• We are not secular humanists, who would make our judgment on the basis of purely civil, legal, natural grounds. For example, Amnesty International and many human rights organisations argue on this basis.
• We are not Muslims, who would base our position on the Koran, and accept capital punishment as a central tenet of the Sharia.
• We are not Jewish, who would argue from our books of the Jewish revelation, the Law and the Prophets (what Christians call the Old Testament), that "an eye for an eye" morality legitimates, indeed demands, capital punishment for certain crimes.
• Rather, we are Christians, followers of Jesus, who taught and practised forgiveness, even of those who would murder him.

Within the Christian community, there have been varying views over the course of history about the legitimacy of capital punishment. But even when it has been accepted, it has never been seen as something to be lightly taken, but always as a most serious punishment for the most serious crimes.

Today, the weight of the church’s teaching is against capital punishment, as indeed is the growing public opinion around the world, reflected in the abolition of the death penalty in over 100 countries. (South Africa is one of the best known recent instances of the abolition of capital punishment.) There has been a growing religious sensitivity and humanitarian consciousness that calls for the rejection of the state’s right to take the life of anyone as a punishment for crimes such as murder, treason, rape, etc., no matter how heinous the crime may be.

TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE

The basis of that teaching is, of course, the ultimate sanctity of human life. As the Zambian Bishops’ stated in their 1998 Pastoral Letter, Choose Life: "Human life is a precious gift from God, the source of all life." (#3) This is because we believe the revelation of Genesis 1:26: "Let us make human beings in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves." Respect for that sanctity of life means recognition that since God is the author of life, only God may take life. No human power or authority can assume to take life. Among the commandments given Moses was "You shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). This was fully endorsed by Jesus himself (Mark 10:19; Matthew 19:18).

But what can we say about scripture and the death penalty? It is true that the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament) mandate the death penalty for a series of crimes, most especially murder (see Genesis 9:6 and Exodus 21:12 ff). But even the Prophet Ezekiel also has God declare: "I do not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but in the conversion of the wicked who change their ways and save their life" (Ezekial 33:11). And God advises the people: "Vengeance is mine" (Deuteronomy 32:35).

But Jesus, who came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17), makes very clear that the heart of the law of his New Testament is love (Luke 10:25-28). Those who follow this law of love are to take it so seriously that they would not harm their neighbours even in ways that might earlier have been permitted by the old law : "You have heard it said...but I say to you" (see Matthew 5:17-48).

So what does this mean when Jesus is faced with the tradition of the Jewish Scripture about the death penalty? The best known instance, of course, is Jesus’ dealing with the woman taken in adultery (John 8:3-11). Though the law of Moses clearly demanded the death penalty in this case (Deuteronomy 22:22), Jesus’ words and actions makes it obvious that he definitely rejects dealing with sinners, even serious sinners, with execution. Central to his Good News is the message of forgiveness, and he shows this most plainly when, at the very moment when he himself is being murdered by state-sanctioned capital punishment, he cries out: "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

CHURCH’S TEACHING

The church’s teaching must necessarily be based upon Scripture. And since we are Christians, we take the New Testament as our fundamental guide. But it must be acknowledged that there certainly has been a strand of the church’s teaching that in the past did support capital punishment. This is so because Christianity was inserted into a culture that accepted the death penalty as a fact of life. Popes have defended the practice of executing criminals, even heretics. (Indeed, the Church supported many other things that today are rejected as unacceptable, such as slavery and colonialism.)

In recent times, however, there has been a growing sensitivity to the value of human life and the need for social structures and political practices to respect and protect all human life. Human rights covenants and declarations from the United Nations and from the Organisation of African Unity have made this very clear. And the church’s teaching has developed very clearly along the lines of rejecting capital punishment.

For Catholics, the official teaching of the Church is very important in this matter of the abolition of capital punishment. Three recent documents must be looked at:

First, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" (1992) of Pope John Paul II stated that the traditional teaching of the church has acknowledged the right and duty of legitimate public authority to use, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty. But this right and duty is limited if bloodless means can be found to protect public order, "because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person." (#s2266-2267)

Second, the 1995 encyclical of John Paul II, "The Gospel of Life," moves the tradition forward in a very important fashion. The Pope sees as one of the encouraging "signs of the times" in our present society that "there is evidence of a growing public opposition to the death penalty..." (#27). He then goes on to state very clearly that the punishment of a criminal "ought not to go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity; in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvements in the organisation of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent" (#56).

Third, in the light of this 1995 teaching, the "Catechism" text (#s226-267) was officially amended in 1997. The reference to legitimating the death penalty "in cases of extreme gravity," is omitted. And new sentences are introduced to limit the possibility of accepting the death penalty, including: "Today, in practice, because of the possibilities open to the state in punishing crimes effectively and rendering harmless those who commit them, although the possibility is not definitively foreclosed, the cases of absolute necessity for the death of the guilty party ‘are now very rare, if not practically non-existent.’" (The quotation at the end is from "The Gospel of Life" #56.)

This, then, is the official teaching of the Catholic Church today, based on scripture: the death penalty is not an accepted form of punishment for crimes.