Recognizing that ​“a grow­ing num­ber of evan­gel­i­cals now call” for a shift away from the death penal­ty, the National Association of Evangelicals — an umbrel­la group for con­gre­ga­tions rep­re­sent­ing mil­lions of evan­gel­i­cal Christians in the United States — has backed away from its pri­or strong sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. A new­ly adopt­ed NAE res­o­lu­tion states, ​“Evangelical Christians dif­fer in their beliefs about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, often cit­ing strong bib­li­cal and the­o­log­i­cal rea­sons either for the just char­ac­ter of the death penal­ty in extreme cas­es or for the sacred­ness of all life, includ­ing the lives of those who per­pe­trate seri­ous crimes and yet have the poten­tial for repen­tance and ref­or­ma­tion. We affirm the con­sci­en­tious com­mit­ment of both streams of Christian eth­i­cal thought.” The res­o­lu­tion says ​“Nonpartisan stud­ies of the death penal­ty have iden­ti­fied sys­temic prob­lems in the United States” and express­es con­cerns about ​“the alarm­ing fre­quen­cy of post-con­vic­tion exon­er­a­tions.” Previously, the NAE had been entire­ly sup­port­ive of the death penal­ty. Shane Claiborne, an evan­gel­i­cal Christian author and activist, called the NAE’s change, ​“a big deal,” say­ing, ​“For evan­gel­i­cals, one of the core tenets of our faith is that no one is beyond redemp­tion. The death penal­ty rais­es one of the most fun­da­men­tal ques­tions for evan­gel­i­cals: Do we have the right to rob some­one of the pos­si­bil­i­ty of redemp­tion?” According to a Pew Research Center poll from March 2015, white evan­gel­i­cal Protestants were more sup­port­ive of the death penal­ty than any oth­er group, with 71% in favor, although sup­port had dropped 6 per­cent­age points since 2011. 

The res­o­lu­tion raised con­cerns about inno­cence, say­ing, ​“Realizing the lim­i­ta­tions of our sys­tem and the moral­ly dis­as­trous nature of any error, some juris­dic­tions have either abol­ished or placed a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty, choos­ing instead the sen­tence of life impris­on­ment with­out parole and bring­ing both exe­cu­tions and death sen­tences to a record low.” It con­clud­ed by call­ing for broad crim­i­nal jus­tice reforms: ​“Despite dif­fer­ing views on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, evan­gel­i­cals are unit­ed in call­ing for reform to our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. Such reform should improve pub­lic safe­ty, pro­vide resti­tu­tion to vic­tims, reha­bil­i­tate and restore offend­ers, and elim­i­nate racial and socio-eco­nom­ic inequities in law enforce­ment, pros­e­cu­tion and sen­tenc­ing of defen­dants.” Samuel Rodriguez, the head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said mil­len­ni­als and non-white evan­gel­i­cals are caus­ing the decline in sup­port. A 2014 Barna Group poll found that mil­len­ni­al Christians were 10 points less sup­port­ive of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment than baby boomer Christians. Earlier this year, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for abo­li­tion of the death penalty.

(“Resolution: Capital Punishment,” National Association of Evangelicals, 2015; S. Pulliam Bailey, ​“The National Association of Evangelicals has changed its posi­tion on the death penal­ty,” The Washington Post, October 19, 2015; ​“Interview: ​‘We must include our restora­tive gospel to those incar­cer­at­ed,’” Evangelical Focus, October 22, 2015.) See New Voices and Religion.

Citation Guide