Religious
Groups |
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A number of religious organizations, both nationally
and internationally have provided arguments for
and against the death penalty. |
The Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty
http://www.deathpenaltyreligious.org/
The Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project (former Friends Committee
to Abolish the Death Penalty) was created to galvanize and empower the religious
community in the United States to work against capital punishment. Coordinated
by the American Friends Service Committee's criminal justice program, the Project
provides people of faith with the tools and resources they need to become effective
advocates for abolition. They include the statements from more than 30 Faith
groups and an online petition for abolishion.
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Prison Ministry website
http://www.someonecares.org/
Includes a Newsletter archive that contains writings from Don Hawkins -see his
story facts in Commons Area- about the Bible. The article “Ten months before
die” appears in different samples and finishes on April 2003, date of execution
of Hawkins.
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Reprieve (UK)
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/religion.shtml
Reprieve provides effective legal representation and humanitarian assistance
to impoverished people facing the death penalty in the US and the Caribbean.
This website section provides links about Death Row and Religion.
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The Declaration of Life
http://www.quaker.org/declaration-of-life.html
The Quakers' web page has this legal document -- an anti-death-penalty request
that would allow an individual to request that if he or she dies from a violent
crime, the person held responsible will not receive the death penalty.
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Pax Christi
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_events_more.asp?id=26
Statement by Pax Christi USA Regarding the Death Penalty.
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Catholics Against Capital Punishment
http://www.cacp.org/pages/585134/index.htm
This site has links to latest CACP news, Bishop’s views, the CACP newsletter,
and links to other anti-death penalty websites. It is fairly short and orientated
specifically for Catholics.
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About Sister Helen
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Apr1996/feature1.asp
Article: "Sister Helen Prejean : the real women
behind dead men walking."
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Baptist
Links
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While there is no one official
doctrine of the Baptist religion, the following links
provide a summary of diverse opinions
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http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?Id=6002
This site reports on the 2000 Southern Baptist convention, which passed a resolution
to support the death penalty. That resolution affirms the use of capital punishment "by
civil magistrates as a legitimate form of punishment for those guilty of murder
or treasonous acts that result in death." The death penalty should be
used only when there is "clear
and overwhelming evidence of guilt," the proposal says. It also calls for "vigilance,
justice and equity in the criminal justice system," with
capital
punishment "applied as justly and as fairly as possible without undue delay,
without reference to the race, class or status of the guilty.
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http://www.christianity.com/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314166%7CCHID
606338%7CCIID1576078,00.html
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is the mouthpiece for the Southern
Baptist Convention (SBC). This is not the official statement on capital punishment
but summarizes the biblical basis for the resolution passed by the national
convention in 2000.
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http://www.baptiststandard.com/2003/1_20/pages/death_clc.html
In January 2003, the Texas state Baptist convention calls for a moratorium
on the death penalty at the completion of a two-year study. The commission's
report
concludes that "in the final analysis, biblical teaching does not support
capital punishment as it is practiced in contemporary society."
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http://www.abc-usa.org/resources/resol/cappun.htm
Official position on capital punishment from the American Baptist Policy Statement
on Human Rights - December 1976
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Evangelical
Lutheran Church
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http://www.elca.org/dcs/death.htm
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's social statement on the death penalty. |
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