Christians urged to 'think' about death-penalty stance

Romano Cedillos
Diversity Institute Fellow

10.29.02

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Christians today use the Bible to both support and oppose the death penalty much as they used it to support and oppose slavery hundreds of years ago, said an associate professor of religion at Belmont University Wednesday during a discussion on biblical perspectives on capital punishment.

Judy Skeen, who has a doctorate in biblical studies and teaches at the Belmont School of Religion, led the discussion titled “An Eye for an Eye or Turn the other Cheek: A Biblical Look at the Death Penalty.”

The group of about 75 students present in the Massey Business Center building was asked by Skeen to consider how the Bible was once used in order to say that slavery in America was God-ordained, while at the same time it was used to preach the abolition of slavery.

“This was not one of our best examples of using the Bible,” Skeen said of the slavery era, “and not one of our best examples of good thinking. The death penalty is kind of like that.”

Skeen, who is also a member of Amnesty International, an organization committed to abolishing the death penalty throughout the world, said scripture can be used to justify just about anything. But counting “kill” and “don’t kill” verses is not a good way of reaching a position on this issue. She recommends using critical thinking as well as examining the big picture of what scripture says.

“Most (Christians) I’ve talked to really do come down on one side (of the death penalty issue) or the other. But they’re uncomfortable with where they come down,” Skeen said.

At issue are the differing views of God, Skeen said. For many Christians, God is an entity that has evolved from a fire and brimstone disciplinarian to one of compassion and forgiveness. They view Jesus Christ, who asked his followers to "turn the other cheek" when victimized by their fellow human beings, as the perfect example of this evolution.

But Skeen said Christians who use the Bible to strongly support the death penalty see the words of Jesus as a personal ethic with no social application. They argue that Jesus didn’t expect his words to be applied on a societal level, she said, and they believe that capital punishment is acceptable because Jesus intended the laws of society to be carried out.

This, according to Skeen, is not a sound method of coming to terms with the death penalty because it undercuts the power of the Gospel.

“I think what Jesus was saying is that although compassion, forgiveness and love look weak in the face of evil, ultimately they are not,” Skeen said.

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