Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu called for a global ban on the death penalty in a commentary featured in The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.
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(Photo: AP Images / Ryan Remiorz, The Canadian Press)Archbishop Desmond Tutu listens to a speaker at the Millenium Summit in Montreal, Friday, Nov. 9, 2007.
The former archbishop of Cape Town wrote the piece ahead of a vote at the United Nations General Assembly on a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on executions with the ultimate goal of banning the practice later this month, according to Agence France-Presse.
“I am delighted that the death penalty is being removed from the globe,” Tutu wrote, referring to the increasing number of countries abolishing the death penalty either in law or practice.
“The death penalty … says that to kill in certain circumstances is acceptable, and encourages the doctrine of revenge.
“If we are to break these cycles, we must remove government-sanctioned violence.”
He called capital punishment a violation of fundamental human rights and called the practice to be abolished worldwide.
According to the human rights group Amnesty International, 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, while 64 countries and territories still retain the practice.
“In country after country, it (capital punishment) is used disproportionately against the poor or against racial or ethnic minorities,” Tutu wrote in The Guardian.
“It is often used as a tool or political repression. It is imposed and inflicted arbitrarily. It is an irrevocable punishment, resulting inevitably in the execution of people innocent of any crime.”
“It is a violation of fundamental human rights,” said the former South African archbishop.
The draft resolution on the death penalty was co-sponsored by 72 countries earlier this month, ahead of a vote by the full 192-member assembly, Italy’s U.N. mission counselor Giuseppe Manzo said to AFP.
"The time has come to abolish the death penalty worldwide," Tutu wrote.
"The case for abolition becomes more compelling with each passing year."
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Comments
Tokepan, what you quote is right. Even though God will forgive a murderer, He has set laws upon this earth because if not;there would be total mahem. Tutu is a social liberal like jimmy carter and the clintons, and as such, will probably excuse the thousands Fidel Casro has killed in Cuba, The millions Communism has killed over the ages, and the many that Nelson Mandela burned in in tires. Many social liberals support the killing of the unborn because of population growth, woman's right's; free choice, but then they want to let ted bundy run around for a second chance and then throw millions of dollars at secular psychology to address a spiritual problem - the sinful heart of man. There is only one answer to all of this, and it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Topekan, thank you for your words. I wish more Christians would do as you did: You went to Scripture with a problem, namely, the death penalty. And you got an answer in Genesis 9. Then you compared God's revelation in Genesis 9 with the rest of God's revelation, for instance, Peter and Paul, and then you applied it to the problem. The result was that you arrived at an answer to the problem which will stand the test of time and whose truthfulness will be illustrated over and over in life. Friends, please learn from Topekan!
'in point of fact, it is cheaper to incarcerate someone for life than to put him or her to death.'
On what planet? The last time I checked it is around $50,000 per year per inmate... or that may be $25,000... you multiply that by 20-50-60 years... the cost of a bullet is around 20 cents.
Romans 12:19-20: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
So, from a Christian point of view, the vengeance of the death penalty should be left up to God. And, in point of fact, it is cheaper to incarcerate someone for life than to put him or her to death.
Yes, the Bible sanctions "capitol" punishment, and it is correct that it has not been recinded. Yet, for invoking the punishment, the Bible spells out very clear conditions: i.e. the need for 2 witnesses to establish a fact, who can bring forth charges, who casts the first stone, etc. We in the U.S. put people to death using circumstancial evidence without providing a way for challenging a guilty verdict. Only the legitimacy of technical judiciary issues are allowed for challenging a verdict. We as a nation have put people, innocent of their crime, to death and continue to risk the same today. The Bible does not allow for capitol murder, even for good intentions.
MuggleBorn,
Sorry about that, I just could not help myself on this one :)
ifeelfine72,
'is that comment really in the spirit of Christian faith?'
I do not see how it is not in the spirit of the Christian faith. Stating that someone with a name of Tutu should be dancing is merely a play on words. Jesus Himself had/has a good sense of humor.
'While the Bible doesn't specifically say the death penalty is bad'
Actually, it never once says anything about corporate death penalty being a bad thing. Quite the contrary actually. God sanctioned the death of entire nation or peoples, stoning those who commit certain sins, etc.
Look, the death penalty sways most from committing these heinous crimes. In the Mosaic Law, it was required. (See Genesis 9:5-6 and Numbers 35:31).
People were put to death for rape, murder, incest, human sacrifice, sodomy, etc.
Since God is the same today as he used to be and always will be... we need to keep in mind that when we do use capital punishment, in our human minds it seems better to let them sit for 50-80 years in prison, when in reality, when they die, our Lord will deal with them immediately.
God commanded to Noah in Genesis 9:6 "He who sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in God's image made He man." Nowhere else in the bible did God rescind that command. There was no sheet with murderers on it or any statements by Jesus that he had fulfilled it. Indeed, both He (telling Peter to put the sword away when the temple guard came, that he who lived by the sword died by the sword) and Paul (stating that the government doesn't wield the sword in vain) are NT references that remind us of the command to Noah. PC? No, but it's in the book.
xenodaddy - is that comment really in the spirit of Christian faith? While the Bible doesn't specifically say the death penalty is bad, certainly the spirit of our faith is against it and if that isn't enough, just think about Christ on the cross. The Bible isn't specific about abortion either and most of us here are against it. Good on Archbishop Tutu.
zenodaddy - You have GOT to stop making comments like that. You made me visualize it, and I really don't want to have to explain to my colleagues in the next cubicle WHY I'm laughing :^) ... I'm gonna get sent to HR.
On a serious note, there are some good points to banning execution. I think the best argument is that it's simply the "easy way out". I think a lifetime of solid reflection in solitary confinement would be more appropriate. (You could give them a Bible … ya know. Just for something to pass the time, but I’m sure a lot of atheists would think that was *boo hoo* cruel and unusual.
I think he should dance around on his tippy toes and do some twirls while giving his opinion... be fitting.