Facts & Research
Religion
Leaders and organizations representing a variety of faiths have taken stances on the death penalty, often tying their views to beliefs about human dignity, retribution, and redemption.
Facts & Research
Leaders and organizations representing a variety of faiths have taken stances on the death penalty, often tying their views to beliefs about human dignity, retribution, and redemption.
Religious denominations in the U.S. have frequently made statements about the death penalty, sometimes pointing out concerns about its application, and other times judging the morality of the punishment itself. Historically, most major religious bodies allowed for the use of capital punishment, but criticism of the practice has greatly increased in recent times.
In a diverse democracy, no single religious point of view occupies a privileged position in the framing of law. Nevertheless, the principles of various communities of faith are relevant in the political debate because they help inform the views of their respective constituents and reflect the “evolving standards of decency” that are vital to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Eighth Amendment.
DPIC provides a compilation of statements about the death penalty from a broad array of religious denominations. DPIC occasionally highlights the views of those speaking from a faith perspective when the comments relate to a case or controversy involving capital punishment. Finally, it features the results of death penalty polls when broken down by particular faiths.
Oct 06, 2020
A new papal encyclical letter tells Catholics around the world that “[t]here can be no stepping back” from the Church’s formal opposition to the death penalty. Pope Francis’ October 3, 2020 encyclical, entitled
Read MoreFeb 15, 2021
NEWS (2/11/21) — Alabama: In a splintered vote with three conservative justices noting their dissents, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Alabama Attorney General’s application to vacate a …
Feb 10, 2021
Four hours after Alabama was scheduled to execute death-row prisoner Willie B. Smith III on February 11, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a federal appeals court injunction barring the execution from going f…
Jan 25, 2021
As the Virginia General Assembly considers legislation to abolish the death penalty, opponents of capital punishment gathered at lynching sites across the state to emphasize the historical link between lynchings and executions. G…
Jan 18, 2021
On Martin Luther King Day, DPIC looks at the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s views on capital punishment. In a November 1957 article in Ebony, Dr. King was asked “Do you think God approves the death penalty for crimes like rape…
Jan 15, 2021
Legislators in the Virginia House and Senate are poised to attempt a repeal of its capital punishment statute, as Governor Ralph Northam (pictured) announced that he would sponsor a bill to end the commonwealth’s …
Oct 26, 2020
The leader of the world’s second largest Christian denomination has joined with the Roman Catholic Church in declaring the death penalty fundamentally incompatible with Christian teachings. In an interview with Vatican News on October 20,…
Sep 02, 2020
When Truth is All You Have, a new memoir by Centurion Ministries founder Jim McCloskey (pictured) tells the story of what many consider to be the birth of the modern innocence movement. The book, written …
Jul 15, 2020
Lawyers for Wesley Purkey (pictured), the second of three federal death-row prisoners scheduled to be executed during the week of July 13, are seeking to halt his execution, arguing that mental illness and dementia have left him m…
Jul 10, 2020
As the scheduled July 13, 2020 date for the first federal executions in 17 years approaches, faith leaders, …
Jun 17, 2020
NEWS (6/16/20) — Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Ruben Gutierrez over concerns about the refusal by the state of Texas to allow a chaplain to accompany Gutierrez in the execution chamber.