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I 1' '~( i' ?%. C O BER0 1 1'9 '7t). WiliI 1 fR1L PRElSS -The Church i Speak's Capi1tal punishMen t may flotbe unChristian *By THE REV. TED STE VENS St. Thomas's Anglican Church Brooklin Capital punishment is again a live issue An Canadian polities'. Will the new Parliament restore the death penalty? You and 1 will be involved An this question because indications are that M.PÎ. 's will be ailowed a free vote and we shall be pressurized into pressurizing them to vote one way or the other. We ne' ed to kiiow that it is flot un-Christian to vote for capital punlshment. This has to be Said because off iciai Church propaganda in recent years bhas'been heaviiy weighted against- capital puismnt., Leaders of Anglican, United. Lutheran and other churches, have gone on record as opposed'to t. Cer- tainly it s an awesomne question., Certainiy no hurnane per- son, least of al a Christian, should thlnk or speak.iightiy of this right of the- state to< take human lIife in the interes ts of Justice., Yet, in the, opinion of the present writer, this right does exist and ýthe arguments put,,forth ýagainst t seem, neither particuiarly convincing nor particularly Christian. What are they? Flrst, the aboiitionists say that punlshment should be aimed at the reformation of the cuiprit and capital punish- ment, by ts ver>' nature, can not do this. If there were no time between'sentence and execution, and if death was the end of everything, this would be valid. But there always is time, An Canadian justice, for revlew, possible reprieve and, at least, nward moral reformation, And the Christian Falth does no t belleve that death s the end, or necessarily the worst thing.that can befali a person. To be condemned to lA 've for years An the worst and most unhelpfui of com- panyý may well be thought morali>' more dangerous and generaîlly.more frlghtful. Moreover there Als a deepers issue at stake here about'the very nature of justice and punlsh- ment. Strictly. speaklng, reformation of the guilty,,though an entirel>' desirabie objective, s flot part of '.unishment, Punishment, properiy speaking, s an act of retribution by society, L.e. t deciares that a wrotig deserves a penalty just as a right deservesa reward, It also Involves the Idea that there should be some equvaience between the crime and the penalty, If this As not the case then judges and magistrates should be replaced b>' psychoiogists and social workers. Secondi>', the abolAtionists say that capital punishrnents un-Christian because t confliets 'with the Christian view that life, as the giftof God, is sacred and no man has the right to take it. There is a measure of truth in this but what is forgotten is tha t God, s sacred and no man hasý the' riàht to take' it. There is a measure of truth An-this'but, what s forgôtten s that God has de legated to the, State certain of his prerogatives. among which. so the New Testament teaches >, is the power of capital punishment. (See,.e.g,. Acts- 25,11 and Romans 13.4. The question at issue s flot one which concerns the rights of individuais in reiationship with.one another but the divinely ordained powers of the' State. Thirdi>'. the. aboiionists Say' that capital punishment imfplies, a vneu attitude, which is at variance with the teachings of Çhrist that lwe should pot return evil, for evii, but rather be ready aâlways to -forgive the wrongdloer. No, Christian,would question that this s"the-teaching 0f Jesus, for his followers as faras their personal relationsbips with individual feliow,beings is concerned. ButJesus did not teach this to those who administer the law, An their. officiîai capacit>', nor, apparently, did he have.an>' quarrel with the states right to punish. Moreover, bhe ean>' endorsed the' general BiUjjcal view that God's own .Jugment of. man As retributive and that hie wAllrender to every man according, to his works'.î The idea that God is ail love and forglveness and -no, righteousness and judgement As a gross distortion of the teaching of Christ. From, the Christianpoint of view the' ideal of God'sjustice.should lie behinid the administration of human justice. This, 'as. the'death of Christ himself shows,,nvolves the'ides of. punishment, for wrong. Another argument against the death penalty s that t shows disregard for humian life.. This As as false "as to say that Imprisonrnent for kidnapp ing shows disregard for liberty, Surel>' t lAsthemlld sentence which tends to lessen the offence An the* eyes, 0f soêiety b>' reducing t to a level wth other offences. one must profoundiy wish that the ap- plication of capital punishment wAll be, extremely rare and, b>' Atavery ranity, highlight the value1 which soclety places upon human life., Something must be said about the endless arguements thathave gone on about the deterrent effect, or lack of t, of capitalpunishment. The best informed.authorities (e.g. Thonsten Sellin An his booké 'The Death Penalty' and the- report 'Capital Punishment' produced by the Royal Com- miss 'ion, on ýCapital- Punihment) conclude that At As im- Possible accur.atel>' to assess deterenteffects. The Royal Commission stated: "We recognize that t is impossible to arrive confidenti>' at firm conclusions about the deterrent effect of the death penalty, or indeed of',any'fom f punishment'. This',point o ught not, therefore, to.be used An defence'of capital punishm ent, but neither shouid t be used against t. The matter must be argued on other.,grounds."ý Perhaps the. most teliing argument of the aboiit!Qnists is that whicb pointa to. the degrading eèffects of the "death penalty upon those.who have to carry Ait.out. This has been parti>' due to the methods:.of execution performed and.par- ti>' téo thé- empioyment of a professionai executioneri It should not be beyond the wit of -scienceandsociet>' to dev ise more human methods and oneës.An which the responsibilit>' would'be shared rather tha'n rest uponï a single ndividuai. In, an>' case,, a proper view of the awful solemnity and seriousness of, thé matter, should not lead one to think of cap ital p 1upishnýent asÎ,a > thing degrading' for the iitr of justice. No ýone can féee] comfortabie 'in ha.ndiing* this subject, least of'ail an ordained1 minister of the Chistian< Faith. But the issue is upon us and müst'bè faced. 'Sen tim .en talit>' must be put aside'and the trué. nature of justice and punîshen carefuil>' thought through. It-As my belief that if this As done a vote "for the" resýàtoration 0'f the death penalty wiii not be seen as an un-Chnistian thing. ç2Yp ~.AJI