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DALLAS—The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission
has joined the call for a moratorium on the death penalty.
With only one dissenting vote, the moral concerns and public policy
agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas voted on Jan. 10 to
support a moratorium on capital punishment.
At the same time, the commission agreed to support legislation that
would allow Texas juries the sentencing option of life without parole as
an alternative to the death penalty.
Buddy Helms, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Big Lake, explained
that he voted against the motion because he thought that support for
expanded sentencing options should have been handled separately from the
call for a moratorium. “I think there are instances where the death
penalty is necessary,” he said.
The commission, underscoring that its role is to speak to Texas
Baptists and not for Texas Baptists on moral and ethical issues, also
approved an extensive report examining the issue of capital punishment
from biblical, historical and social justice perspectives. All but
two of the commission members present voted to approve the report.
The commission’s report concludes “in the final analysis, biblical
teaching does not support capital punishment as it is practiced in
contemporary society.”
Furthermore, the report states “the practice of capital punishment in
our nation and state is an affront to biblical justice, both in terms of
its impact on the marginalized in society and in terms of simple
fairness. How can we perpetuate a system which is clearly so unfair
and so broken?”
The Bible emphasizes two principles that must be considered when
examining the death penalty – the critical importance of obeying God’s
commands and profound respect for human life, according to the
commission.
Scripture not only places limits on revenge, as reflected in “an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” but also moves beyond retribution to
“transforming initiatives.” “Shunning the vicious cycles of even
limited retaliation, Jesus calls us to creative confrontation and
constructive community-building,” the report states.
History shows “both that the practice of capital punishment and
protests against capital punishment are deeply woven into the fabric of
every era of church – and western – history and that centuries-old debates
anticipate and inform our own debates over this issue.”
The way Texas applies the death penalty is unjust in terms of its
impact on racial minorities, the poor, juvenile offenders and inmates who
mistakenly are convicted, according to the report.
“Racism in sentencing is not a relic of the past,” the report asserts,
noting studies that show the race of the victim and the defendant have a
direct bearing on sentencing.
The commission reports that a Texan who murders a white person is five
times more likely to be sentenced to death than a Texan who murders an
African American. And white Texans rarely receive the death penalty
for killing black people.
“Statistically, race is more likely to affect death sentencing than
smoking affects the likelihood of dying from heart disease. While
the latter evidence has produced significant legal and societal changes,
racism continues to be a dominant factor in the administration of the
death penalty,” the report states.
The commission’s report also points to discrimination based on economic
class, saying, “A defendant’s poverty, lack of firm social standing in the
community, and inadequate legal representation at trial or on appeal are
all common factors among death-row populations.”
The report also notes:
The United States is the only western democracy
currently using the death penalty. Globally, the U.S. ranks third
in the total number of executions since 1998, behind China and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since 1976, Texas has carried out about
one-third of the executions in the U.S. Last year, 33 of the 71
executions in the country were performed in Texas.
Texas accounts for 61 percent of the juvenile
executions in the United States since 1976 (13 of 21). And Texas
leads in the nation in the number of juvenile offenders on death row
(29).
- African Americans comprise 12 percent of the Texas population but
account for 42 percent of the state’s death row population. More
than two-thirds of the people on Texas death row are non-Anglo.
Cy Fletcher of Baytown supported the call for a moratorium but
voted against adopting the report on capital punishment. He agreed
the way the death penalty is applied needs review in order to make sure
justice is done. But Fletcher said he favored “retaining the possibility
of capital punishment” as a matter of law, and the report essentially
presented the argument for abolition of the death penalty.
“It can logically and meaningfully be argued in fairness no one
has the right to murder someone for his own purposes without thereby
placing his own life in jeopardy of proportional risk,” he said.
Fletcher also cited concerns about how the principles presented in the
position paper would be applied logically to the use of deadly force by
police officers or prison guards.
“I support the option of life without parole,” he said. “Yet that
raises a question. How do we hold people for life against their will
without the threat and use of deadly force? In the future, are we
going to hear protests that the impersonal shock of an electrical fence is
murder by proxy and the split-second decisions of a prison guard should be
viewed the same way?”
Bobby Broyles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Earth, noted that a
statement by Menno Simons cited in the historical portion of the report
summarized his views on capital punishment. The 16th century
Anabaptist leader argued that if a murderer genuinely repents and turns to
God, then that person is a new creation and a brother in Christ. If
the murderer does not repent, then executing him would rob him of future
opportunities to repent and be spared from punishment in hell.
“Sending somebody into eternity without Jesus is a grave thing to
consider,” Broyles said.
Charles Kemble from First Baptist Church of Universal City spoke in
favor of the moratorium and the position paper, saying, “The death penalty
as it is now is an immoral situation.”
Kemble cited his belief in the transforming power of God’s love on even
the most abused and abusive person.
“Whereas electricity and chemicals can kill people, love can change
people,” he said.
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