Religious belief has always been at the center of debate about the death penalty – cited both in support and in opposition. The often-cited “eye for an eye” Biblical phrase has led many to assume that religious belief requires support for the death penalty. But a closer look tells a different story.
Fact: The Majority of Judeo-Christian Religious Organizations Oppose the Death Penalty
While it is true that people who identify as Atheists and Agnostics tend to be less in favor of the death penalty than those who identify as religious, it is not true that all religions favor capital punishment. According to the Pew Research Center’s study on religion and death penalty support, multiple major Christian denominations, including the American Baptist Churches, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, all have public positions opposing the death penalty, with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Southern Baptist Convention being the only Christian denominations cited as ‘in favor’ in the study.
Additionally, the Unitarian Universalist Association has become a major advocate in the movement to abolish the death penalty, highlighting the economic and racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Many members have even signed a “Declaration of Life,” stating that should they die as a result of a violent crime, they “plead, pray, and request” that the defendant not be sentenced to death.
The Catholic Church is also vehemently opposed to the death penalty, with Pope Francis clarifying Catholic Catechism to firmly state that the death penalty is “inadmissible” in all cases and describing it as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” Groups like the Catholic Mobilizing Network support individual campaigns and work to abolish the death penalty in many U.S States. Among individuals, support for the death penalty also decreases as church attendance increases.
Christian organizations are not the only religions leading advocacy efforts. Both the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements are publicly opposed to the death penalty, and the Orthodox Jewish Community has called for a moratorium. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism stated that the “CCAR [Central Conference of American of Rabbis] resolved in 1979 that ‘both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant,’” while also citing concerns surrounding racial disparities and the absence of evidence that capital punishment is a deterrent to crime.
Fact: Religious Beliefs Intersect with Race and Ethnicity in Shaping Death Penalty Attitudes
Christian support for the death penalty also falls heavily along racial lines. While a majority of white evangelical Protestants support the death penalty, most Black Protestants oppose the death penalty, and do so at an even higher rate than that of the U.S. public overall. As concerns over racial disparities in the death penalty persist, religious groups and coalitions have cited both religious and racial reasons for their opposition.
The National Latino Evangelical Coalition publicly stated its opposition to the death penalty in 2015 with a unanimous vote after discussing the role race plays in the carceral system and death penalty outcomes. Reverend Gabriel Salguero, founder of the Coalition, stated, “Given studies on how the death penalty is meted out, particularly for people of color, if it’s not a level playing field, we need to speak out. … The needle has moved for Latinos and evangelicals.” He continued his statement, summarizing his religious views on the death penalty, saying “[t]he gospel teaches us that crime has a place, but God has the last word.… Christ was an innocent man who was executed. If there’s a possibility that we execute one innocent person we should have pause.”
Islamic scholars and religious leaders have also expressed wavering support for the death penalty. Despite the fact that Islam permits the use of the death penalty, Muslim religious leaders have expressed concerns about Islamophobia in capital trials. In an interview with the New York Times, Khaled Abou el Fadl, a professor of Islamic Law at UCLA School of Law, stated “[r]eaction to the trial and the sentence is filtered through the prism of Muslim suspicions that Americans are biased against them and their religion.” And in a separate interview with Commonweal Magazine, Ingrid Mattson, the former president of the Islamic Association of North America said about Islam that [i]t is allowed to retaliate, but it is better to forgive.” The Council on American Islamic Relations has also called for a moratorium.
Fact: Courts Vary in Treatment of Religious Arguments in Death Penalty Trials
Though religious arguments are commonly cited in the public debate surrounding the morality of the death penalty, many people assume that religion remains outside the courtroom due to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. However, there are many case examples of prosecutors who quoted the Bible and made religious arguments in support of a death sentence during closing arguments. In these challenged cases, prosecutors tended to cite the same specific verses of the Old Testament; eight cited the retributive “an eye for an eye” verse, another nine cited Exodus 21:12, “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall surely be put to death,” and eight quoting Genesis 9:6 “[w]hose sheddeth the man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”
While some courts generally view religious appeals as impermissible, many others deem them acceptable so long as they are not excessive and do not prevent a fair trial. But even within these guidelines, many courts have found the religious arguments of prosecutors to be legally ‘harmless.’ Researchers have found that out of nearly one hundred cases challenged for containing religious arguments from 1985 to 2000, only four were reversed solely on that error.
Lipka, Michelle, “Some Major U.S. Religious Groups Differ from Their Members on the Death Penalty” (2015). Pew Research Center; Rev. Hines, Anne and Rev. Marsh, John, “The Unitarian Universalist Case Against the Death Penalty” (2000). Unitarian Universalist Association; Blume, John H. and Johnson, Sheri Lynn, “Don’t Take His Eye, Don’t Take His Tooth, and Don’t Cast the First Stone: Limiting Religious Arguments in Capital Cases” (2000). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. Paper 241.; “Position of the Reform Movement on the Death Penalty” Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Sachs, Susan “Death Decree Could Have Troubled U.S. Muslims” (2001). The New York Times; Dufresne, Bethe, “Islam and the Death Penalty” (2015). Commonweal; Dufresne, Bethe, “A View from the Edge” (2013). Commonweal; CAIR Press Releases, “CAIR Calls for Moratorium on Death Penalty Following Execution of Troy Davis” (2011). The Council on American Islamic Relations; Project Pluralism “Many American Muslims Troubled by Recent Death Sentence” (2001). Harvard University; Craft, Sarah, “Major Evangelical Group Calls for Death Penalty Repeal” (2015). Equal Justice USA; Miller, Monica and Bornstein Brian, “The Use of Religion in Death Penalty Sentencing Trials” (2006). University of Nebraska
