Is the Death Penalty Morally Equal to Abortion? Bishops Preach Politics Rather than Gospel Truth

CCI NEWS SERVICE ^ | 12/16/2003 | Dr. Brian Kopp

[ckca]

Pinging Dr. Kopp's (Polycarp's) ping list

[Jumper]

To think the death penality is equal to abortion is too liberal a definition. Abortion is the killing of innocent and unsuspecting quary, while the death penality used to mean the execution of someone who themselves committed just such an offense.

[nickcarraway]

Didn't Archbishop Chaput address this?

[PISANO]

The EXECUTION of INNOCENTS is NOT morally equivalent to the EXECUTION of MURDERERS proven to be GUILTY. Anything said to the contrary is idiocy!

[Diamond]

Thank you for the ping.

I respectfully disagree with one point of the article that the death penalty should (now) be rare due to circumstances. The number of murders belies that proposition. I think that Genesis 9:6 still holds and that justice demands it. There is a difference between killing the innocent and killing the guilty. Nowadays though, it seems that the innocent are strangely condemned by the very same people who want the guilty to go free.

Cordially,

[Blood of Tyrants]

And the innocent don't even get the right of a trial.

[Mark17]

Is the Death Penalty Morally Equal to Abortion?

No.

[camle]

the fact that this guy even asks the question illustrates his moral vapidity.

how can you equate the killing of the innocent with the killing of the guilty? Unless you don't beleive in guilt.

[SF Republican]

I have always thought it such a juxtaposition; one group crying it is okay to kill millions of babies but not a single murderer; on the other side it is okay to kill murderers but not babies?

[JustPlainJoe]

Can't these morons tell the difference between the punishment for a crime and the doing away with consequences of irresponsible behavior?

Come on now, for St. Pete's sake....

[vigilo]

Who are the innocent? Aren't we all born with original sin? What good is a "trial" when you're condemned from inception to be guilty?

You ask a good question, you should be able to answer it too.

[ckca]

the fact that this guy even asks the question illustrates his moral vapidity.

Which guy? The bishops who make the moral equivalence between the two, or this author pointing out their moral vapidity for doing so?

(You'll note the author is criticizing the moral vapidity of certain bishops and is obviously in agreement with you.)

[biblewonk]

"We face a serious pastoral challenge, Some Catholic politicians defy church teaching in their policy advocacy and legislative votes, first and most fundamentally on the defense of unborn life, but also on the use of the death penalty, questions of war and peace, the role of marriage and family, the rights of parents to choose the best education for their children, the priority for the poor, and welcome for immigrants...."

They seem to be getting a lot of these wrong lately.

[camle]

the bishops, obviously.

[madprof98]

In remarks he made to a catechetical conference in 2002 Archbishop Chaput addressed it very well:

Second, if we say we're Catholic, we need to act like it. When Catholic Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia publicly disputes Church teaching on the death penalty, the message he sends is not so very different from Frances Kissling (of "Catholics for a Free Choice" fame) disputing what the Church teaches about abortion. I don't mean that abortion and the death penalty are equivalent issues. They're not. They clearly do not have equal moral gravity. But the impulse to pick and choose what we accept in Church teaching is exactly the same kind of "cafeteria Catholicism" in both cases.

Of course, this would never satisfy someone who treats Church teaching on the death penalty as a matter of "personal opinion" but regards homosexuality as one of the four great pillars of the Culture of Death. That's not Catholicism; it's a made-up right-wing religion.

[ckca]

Thanks.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The innocent are the unborn. However, God is a infinitely just and I have complete confidence that the unborn and children not old enough to understand the concept of sin will be completely forgiven and in heaven when I get there.

[HenryLeeII]

Well, first of all, abortion is performed on an innocent, unborn child, whereas the death penalty is applied against an adult with free will who has committed a heinous crime. Secondly, from what I've read on the subject, and admittedly I'm not an expert, but the commandment "Thou shall not kill" refers to murder, not any killing in general. Now, mortgaging an archdiocese's property in order to stay solvent and start paying restitution for various scandals and cover-ups may be a subject the church should spend some conference time discussing...