Religious Perspectives on the Death Penalty
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Although isolated passages of religious scripture
have been quoted in support of the death penalty, almost all religious
groups in the United States regard executions as immoral.
Religious Organizations Opposed the the Death Penalty
Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty
The following religious organizations work against the death penalty from a perspective of faith. Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Catholic and Interfaith groups are all involved in the movement toward a moratorium on executions. Download the PDF to learn more about these groups, how to contact them, and what they're doing: Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty
Essays, Articles & Publications (PDFs)
With a Human Being Who's About to be Killed
By Sister Helen Prejean, November 6, 1999
Does the Death Penalty Make Our Society Safer?
Statement of the Most Reverend John C. Wester, Apostolic Administrator of the Archodiose of San Francisco on day of execution of Clarence Ray Allen, January 17, 2006
The Bible and the Moratorium
By Rev. Jack McKinney, 2005
Against the Death Penalty: Christian Stance in a Secular World
By Margaret M. Falls, December 10, 1986
Dismantling the Cross: A Case Against Capital Punishment
By L. Michael Jendrzejczyk, March 30, 1977
A Yom Kippur Reflection on the Death Penalty
By Daniel Sokatch, Yom Kippur 5766/October 13, 2005
Passages on the Death Penalty from Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)
Pope John Paul II, 1995
A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death
A Statement of the United States' Conference of Catholic Bishops Calling for an End of the Use of the Death Penalty, December 2005
2005 Statement of Conscience from the Unitarian Universalist Association, concerning criminal justice, capital punishment, and prison reform
Death penalty Brochure from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops
Christian Worship & Capital Punishment, Tobias Winright & Allyne Smith, a booklet for the Ekklesia Project (Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2003)
“Crime & Sacrifice,” Tobias Winright, Sojourners Magazine 36/4 (April 2007): 44-47
“Dead Man Walking,” Tobias Winright, The Cresset (Easter 2006
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