CatholicLady Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 What is the LDS church's position on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Folk Prophet Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 Kill 'em all!! Oh...wait...that's Metallica's position on it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegaseamaster75 Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/official-statement/capital-punishment mordorbund, Just_A_Guy and CatholicLady 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiritDragon Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 (edited) The LDS position is in favour of capital punishment, where it is legally acceptable. Edited February 2, 2015 by SpiritDragon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Folk Prophet Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 The LDS position is in favour of capital punishment, where it is legally acceptable. I'd say this isn't accurate per the link omega gave. And I quote: We neither promote nor oppose capital punishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane_Doe Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/official-statement/capital-punishment Text oaf the above link (official church source): TOPIC Capital PunishmentThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regards the question of whether and in what circumstances the state should impose capital punishment as a matter to be decided solely by the prescribed processes of civil law. We neither promote nor oppose capital punishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vort Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 What is the LDS church's position on it? Like this: Backroads, Bini, askandanswer and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just_A_Guy Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) The Church is, as has been said, neutral. Personally--I believe all life starts out innocent and is worthy of state action in order to preserve it. But I also believe that that innocence can be forfeited through a sustained pattern of especially heinous behavior, to the point that it can sometimes be in the best interest of all concerned to end that life as painlessly as possible. But given how costly the execution process has become in the American judicial system, I'm not convinced it's worth it anymore. Any deterrence value the death penalty carries is more than nullified by the public outpouring of sympathy for the perpetrator that the modern American media inevitably incites. Edited February 3, 2015 by Just_A_Guy EarlJibbs and Backroads 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MormonGator Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 The church is agnostic on it. Morally I have no problem with it whatsoever. Do I trust the government to carry it out fairly? Completely different question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiritDragon Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I'd say this isn't accurate per the link omega gave. And I quote: We neither promote nor oppose capital punishment. I suppose so. If the church made the call and not the government/judicial system I feel that the scriptures and history of the church would indicate approval of the practice. So while as an entity the church does not push for executions of criminals or to spare criminal lives (we defer to the laws of the land and have more important issues to worry about) it seems to me that the leaning toward the practice of capital punishment is favourable. The Folk Prophet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicLady Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thank you for the answers, everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiritDragon Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Scriptural support for capital punishment. Perhaps this shows how a guy would interpret the view as basically favourable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Folk Prophet Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I suppose so. If the church made the call and not the government/judicial system I feel that the scriptures and history of the church would indicate approval of the practice. So while as an entity the church does not push for executions of criminals or to spare criminal lives (we defer to the laws of the land and have more important issues to worry about) it seems to me that the leaning toward the practice of capital punishment is favourable. The history of Utah and the church's involvement in government therein supports this thinking I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 How about a topic with some meat for a change, Catholic lady? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bytor2112 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Bytor is........................opposed. CatholicLady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicLady Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Bytor is........................opposed. You and I both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sxfritz Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thank you for the answers, everyone!You are always so hopeful to get out quickly, yet you start fire storms. :) CatholicLady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Folk Prophet Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Bytor is........................opposed. You and I both! Just out of curiosity... Even for the Jeffery Dahmer and Ted Bundys of the world? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I am opposed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vort Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) I am slightly in favor. Supposed "bias" doesn't bother me very much. Wrongful execution of innocents bothers me a great deal; but unlike the anti-death-penalty people, I don't see life in prison as a significantly better option. Spend thirty years in a cage for a crime you didn't commit, and the damage is done, at least as badly as if you had been killed by the state. Edited February 3, 2015 by Vort Just_A_Guy, Backroads and SpiritDragon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I'm opposed not just for innocents. I'm opposed because I believe the matter of death can only be decided/commanded by God. So that in the early days of the Catholic Church when the King is subject to the Pope, I can support the death penalty on principle. A jury of your peers does not qualify for me as having the Priesthood Authority to seek God's command. If a qualification for jury/judge is a temple worthy bishop then I can support it on principle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LiterateParakeet Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I am slightly in favor. Supposed "bias" doesn't bother me very much. Wrongful execution of innocents bothers me a great deal; but unlike the anti-death-penalty people, I don't see life in prison as a significantly better option. Spend thirty years in a cage for a crime you didn't commit, and the damage is done, at least as badly as if you had been killed by the state. Yes, this sums up my feelings nicely too. I'm opposed not just for innocents. I'm opposed because I believe the matter of death can only be decided/commanded by God. So that in the early days of the Catholic Church when the King is subject to the Pope, I can support the death penalty on principle. A jury of your peers does not qualify for me as having the Priesthood Authority to seek God's command. If a qualification for jury/judge is a temple worthy bishop then I can support it on principle. Very interesting. I never thought of it this way before, but I think this is a really intriguing argument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarginOfError Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Personally, I am opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. But I will admit that my reason isn't a great one. I read a news story once about the recent arrest of a man who had committed a particularly disturbing and heinous crime (I don't remember details, sorry). My immediate thought was "I hope they fry the [choose your expletive]." At that point, I realized that my support for capital punishment was based more on vengeance than anything else. I felt that was wrong, and so now I oppose capital punishment. I am, however, aware of the secondary problems my stance brings about. Do we really want to pay to keep these people alive for decades? Is it really fair to incarcerate someone for 30 years and then try to return them back to society? Can a person really spend 30 years in prison among other criminals in our prisons' culture and then reenter society? Part of me, like Vort, suspects that execution may be the more generous choice. But part of me feels like that's also a cop out to take the easy choice. Perhaps it would be better to reform the prison systems? That too would be prohibitively expensive, but maybe smaller jails with more social help would be more productive at turning people's lives around? I don't know. There's a lot of stuff here I don't know. The only thing I am convinced of is that every execution performed out of vengeance is an execution done for the wrong reasons. I believe we will be held accountable for those executions. I'm certain there has to be a better way. Backroads and SpiritDragon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmiGerman Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) There is an old word I once heard: blood atonement. Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last executed in Utah by a firing squad in 2010, and the only and last person in Utah's death row, who is still alive, and who has been given the choice to decide the way of being executed (lethal injection or firing sqad), is Ron Lafferty, once found guilty on a first degree murder of a young woman and her fifteen-month-old daugher in American Fork / Utah in 1984. Gardner's case and execution in 2010 went trough the media, and anti-mormon reports spoke of "blood atonement" (because blood fled when he was shot). But this method is not carried out in Utah any more, with one (hypothetical) exception: Ron Lafferty. His sentence was spoken before the abolition of this method of execution. Personally, I am for the capital punishment, but only if an exact criminal-technical proof situation is given (i.e. DNA proofs) and when it concerns a terrible and cruelful murder in the first degree. I think the firing squad would be the most efficient and most human method, even under retention of the dignity (of a dead under those circumstances). And I don't want to let it unmentioned, that I'm only for CP when the accused is male. For women I'm absolutely against CP and would never agree to that. For me it's a principal and fundamental point of view. Violent crimes like rape and serial murders (the most abominable and terrible ones) are always commited by male persons (i.e. against prostitutes, because they are often in a desperate life situation and very often compelled to to take a high risk on them). I don't see the CP for those (male) murderers as a prevention, but as a legitimate revenge in the name of the murdered person or persons, also giving soul peace for the relatives of the victim (i.e. the parents of the child that's been murdered). Edited February 3, 2015 by JimmiGerman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bini Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Initially, I felt strongly for CP but over the last six years I've felt strongly against it. CatholicLady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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