Capital Punishment

We grow up in a society that teaches us that bad decisions and bad actions always lead to bad

consequences. Capital punishment or most known as death penalty is a governmental practice in

which a person is put to death by legal authorities as a proportionate punishment for serious

crimes that the person has committed (Death Penalty Information Center, n.d). If there is to be

any capital punishment it should be both a wrongdoer and an authority to impose the death.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the United States is the only Western

industrialized nation still holds capital punishment, and according to Federal Bureau of

Investigation about 64% of Americans agree that death penalty is necessary for the country to

deter crime (n.d).

Historically, death penalty was used for rape, particularly when the defendant was black, and

the victim was white. According to Daniels, interracial crimes are not common, yet black people

have been victimized as rapists in cases where the rapist was white (2021). Nowadays, federal

crimes punishable by death numbered forty-one, but the most common cases include murder and

mass murder. Crime is an unlawful act punishable by the state or other authority (Death Penalty

Information Center, n.d). Murder is the action of taking the life of another human being (Death

Penalty Information Center, n.d). However, the definitions of crime and murder are arbitrary and

depend on the circumstances of the crime happened and the criminal involved. For example,

much killing occurs in wartime, but people who kill in a war receive medals and awards. We find

it acceptable, necessary, and even we expect killing in a wartime, but we do not call it murder.

Another definition, a police officer who killed an unarmed human being because he felt

threatened does not murder, he defends himself. Capital punishment also involves killing,
because you take the life of another human being, but people do not consider death penalty

murder, they consider it necessary for society to function properly. So, what is murder and when

the death penalty is imposed as a punishment of killing depends slowly on the jury, and the

circumstances that led murder to occur.

In 1972, the US Supreme Court, with a 5-4 decision Furman vs. Georgia, struck down all

capital punishment schemes (Oyez Organization, n.d). The Supreme Court found that capital

jurors did not have any standards to whether or not impose capital punishment to people. It was

stated that executing criminals was a straight violation of the 8th Amendment which states that

all punishments should be fair and not cruel. However, only four years after, in 1976, the US

Supreme court in the case Gregg v. Georgia found that capital punishment was constitutional for

reasons that there were never explained (Oyez Organization, n.d). The Court reinstalled and

restated capital punishment in the country. Measures were taken to insure more objective

decisions to execute. The scheme must allow the possibility to the sentencer (whether jury or

judge) to consider the character and record of an individual defendant.

Maybe the most famous, informative, and well-known story of capital punishment is the death

penalty assigned to Jesus Christ (Britannica Encyclopedia Authors, n.d). He was born around 4

B.C.E. in Bethlehem. The Bible refers to many miracles that he performed: restored the sight of

two blind men by toughing their eyes, he helped feed 5,000 people with five loafs of bread and

two small fish, he made a paralytic person walk by only saying stand up and walk, and he raised

a man called Lazarus from the death. However, Jesus had broken most of the social norms to

help others. According to Britannica, Jesus was arrested and tried blasphemy before the

Sanhedrin, or Jewish court of law. The two juries found him guilty, and then the court handled

by Pontius Pilate, a Roman prosecutor for the execution. Jesus had to carry a wooden cross and
wear a thorn crown until he was on the top of the Calvary Hill in Jerusalem, and then he was

erected and nailed to the cross through his feet and wrists between two other criminals. Jesus was

a rebellious person and committed many abnormal actions to save and help other people. He was

sentenced to death with the form of execution that was popular in that period in which he lived

(Britannica Encyclopedia Authors, n.d). Because he broke the law multiple times, does not

necessarily mean that he deserved to die.

In 1054, in Southeast Europe there was a schism or division of the European Christian

Church. The church was divided into two major branches: The Western Roman Catholic Church

and the Eastern Orthodox Church (National Geographic Organization Authors, n.d). The reasons

of the division were dispute of the official language and images in the church, the addition to the

Latin word Filioque to the Creed, and the confusion about who is the leader and head of the

church. I will focus on capital punishment according to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The

majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in Southeast Europe, Eastern Europe, Cyprus,

Armenia, Georgia, and Russia (National Geographic Organization Authors, n.d). There are also

many Eastern Orthodox churches in other parts of the world, formed through the Byzantine

Empire, diaspora, conversions, and missionary activity.

One of the 10 Commandments in the Testament is “You shall not murder” (Death Penalty

Information Center, 2020). Capital punishment involves the murder of a human being, thus is

against the Testament. In the New Testament it is stated that Jesus said “Murder, as well as other

actions committed by a man, comes from the heart”. The New Testament suggests the idea that

people who murder do act rationally, they consider the rewards and the costs of their actions. To

sum this idea up, according to the Eastern Orthodox Religion capital punishment is murder and

we choose to kill another human being because we believe that it will deter others from
committing similar crimes (Death Penalty Information Center, 2020). Capital punishment is the

usage of murder to punish someone who murdered. In the Bible, and specifically in John 13:34,

Jesus said “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you

must love one another” (Bible Hub Study Site Authors, n.d). Do we really show love by

executing another human being?

Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that there will be two judgments after we die: the first

one is that experienced by everyone at the time if death, at which God chooses where one will

spend the time (heaven or hell) until the Second Coming of Christ (De La Noval, 2019). The

Second and Final Judgment will occur after the Second Coming.

The judgment is based on what the person has done in his/her life and is believed to occur on

the fortieth day after death (De La Noval, 2019). A person can go to heaven if there has not been

committed a significant number of sins by him. We can forgive our sins through confession.

Eastern Orthodox Christians choose two monks from monasteries or high trusted priests to be the

spiritual leaders. The chosen spiritual leaders are able to do the confession (De La Noval, 2019).

Confession takes place in the main part of church and normally the person is standing in front of

a picture of Christ. The spiritual leader stands next to the picture and only as a witnesses and

guide. The priest cannot say anything to anyone about what was said during the confession (De

La Noval, 2019). Even in cases of murders, sexual abusers, rapists, thieves, the priest is not

allowed to go and tell authorities or discuss what was said with anyone.

There is only one unforgivable sin, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This sin is specified

in several passages of the Synoptic Gospels, including Mark 3:28–29, Matthew 12:31–32, and

Luke 12:10. In John 6:37. According to De La Noval, Jesus said “Whomever comes to me, I

will never drive away” (2019). Everyone can ask for forgiveness, and Jesus will always forgive
every person who asks for it. When we execute a person through capital punishment, we

immediately place that person’s soul at the Judgment Seat of Christ. In our effort to exact justice

about a serious type of crime, we do not give the opportunity to the criminal to confess about his

sins and to live a better life after confession. Even the worst of sinners can change their lives and

be forgiven, and every person must be given the possibility for improvement, even the worst and

most notorious criminals.

In the Bible, and specifically in Galatians 5:14, Jesus said “Love your neighbor as you love

yourself.” ( De La Noval, 2019). We do not show love by murdering someone. By taking the life

of another human being, we show hate. It is abstruse to use murder to someone who murdered to

stop others for murder. Eastern Orthodox Christians oppose death penalty because there is

always a possibility to strive for a better future by asking for forgiveness, it is against the Old

Testament by which the New Testament is based on, and we show no love by executing another

human being. The ancient Greek philosopher Athenagoras puts us in a dilemma “We Christians

cannot endure to see a man being put to death, even justly.”

References

Bible Hub Study Site. (n.d) John 13:34. Retrieved from https://biblehub.com/john/13-34.htm
Britannica Encyclopedia Authors. The Crucifixion: Capital Punishment. Britannica

Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/crucifixion-capital-

punishment

Daniels N. (2021). Should the United States abolish capital punishment? The New York Times.

Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/learning/should-the-death-penalty-be-

abolished.html

Death Penalty Information Center (n.d) Crimes punishable by death. Death Penalty Information

Center. Retrieved from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/crimes-punishable-

by-death

Death Penalty Information Center. (2020). Orthodox Patriarch Calls Death Penalty Incompatible

with Christin Beliefs. Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved from

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/orthodox-church-patriarch-calls-death-penalty-

incompatible-with-christian-beliefs

De La Noval R.J. (2019). The death penalty and hell. The Public Orthodoxy Organization.

Retrieved from https://publicorthodoxy.org/2019/03/01/the-death-penalty-and-hell-

entanglement-and-evolution/

Oyez Organization. (n.d). Gregg v. Georgia. Oyez Organization. Retrieved from

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/74-6257

Oyez Organization. (n.d). Furman v. Georgia. Oyez Organization. Retrieved from

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/69-5030