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News and Developments 2007: Religion

PUBLIC OPINION: Support for Death Penalty Weak Among Blacks and Hispanics

Posted: December 21, 2007
in
According to new polling analysis from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, support for the death penalty among the general public has dropped to 62% (August 2007), down from a high of 80% support in the mid-1990s.  Among black respondents, 51% opposed the death penalty and only 40% were in favor.  Hispanics were about evenly split with 48% in favor of the death penalty and 47% opposed.  Eighty-two (82%) percent of conservative Republicans support the death penalty, but only 41% of liberal Democrats.  Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants had the highest support-

Jews join struggle against NJ death penalty

Posted: December 14, 2007
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by Michal Lando
December 13, 2007
Jerusalem Post

New Jersey is on its way to becoming the first state to repeal the death penalty since 1976, when the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment, and Jews are using tradition to weigh in on the process.

Death Penalty Tests a Church as It Mourns

Posted: November 28, 2007
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By ALISON LEIGH COWAN October 28, 2007
New York Times
 

CHESHIRE, Conn., Oct. 25 — The United Methodist Church here is the kind of politically active place where parishioners take to the pulpit to discuss poverty in El Salvador and refugees living in Meriden. But few issues engage its passions as much as the death penalty.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Sikhs Worldwide Campaign for Death Penalty Abolition

Posted: November 28, 2007
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By Sujoy Dhar
Oct 29, 2007
IPS

BRUSSELS - On March 23, 1931, an Indian Sikh named Bhagat Singh attained martyrdom when he was hanged by the British for his role in the militant freedom struggle against the colonial rulers.

About 75 years later, Professor Jagmohan Singh, a nephew of the liberation hero, preaches peace and mercy as he joins a worldwide campaign, especially in Europe, by his Sikh community against death penalty.

Religious leaders plead to end death penalty in N.J.

Posted: November 28, 2007
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By BOB MAKIN
STAFF WRITER
November 28, 2007
Home News Tribune

TRENTON — More than 550 New Jersey religious leaders — including 135 from Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Hunterdon counties — are calling on state lawmakers to abolish the death penalty.

IN THEORY: Opinions on the death penalty

Posted: June 20, 2007
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June 17, 2007
The Daily Pilot

Many academics in recent years have been arguing that their studies prove the death penalty deters murder. The various studies show that between 3 and 18 lives could be saved by executing a convicted killer. Critics question the data, saying that the experts made mistakes in their methodology. What do you think of this recent data? Has it affected your position on the issue?

Judaism has always believed in capital punishment based upon Biblical Law.

Test Post Jon Saints

Posted: March 18, 2007
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Crime and Sacrifice

Posted: March 15, 2007
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What does the cross tell us about the ethics of capital punishment?
by Tobias Winright

Sojourners Magazine
April 2007

NEW RESOURCE: Religion and the Death Penalty Web Page

Posted: February 22, 2007
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The Death Penalty Information Center's new Religion and the Death Penalty Web page is now available online. In recent years, a growing number of religious organizations have participated in the nation's death penalty debate. The purpose of this new Web page is to provide access to information regarding the efforts of these faith groups and to highlight recent developments related to religion and the death penalty.

Vatican Says Death Penalty Is "Affront to Human Dignity"

Posted: February 19, 2007
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In a position paper issued this month during the World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, the Vatican said that the death penalty "is not only a refusal of the right to life, but it also is an affront to human dignity." Echoing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the paper noted that while governments have an obligation to protect their citizens, "today it truly is difficult to justify" using capital punishment when other means of protection, such a