March 24, 2005
by Jim Wallis

On Monday, the U.S. Catholic Bishops launched a new "Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty." Cardinal Theodore McCarrick opened a press conference by noting: "This holy week is the time Catholics and all Christians are reminded of how Christ died - as a criminal brutally executed." The church first opposed the death penalty 25 years ago, but this new campaign, he said, "brings greater urgency and unity, increased energy and advocacy, and a renewed call to our people and to our leaders to end the use of the death penalty in our nation."

I am against the death penalty in principle. We simply should not kill to show we are against killing. It's also easy to make a fatal mistake, as alarming DNA testing has demonstrated. The death penalty is clearly biased against the poor who cannot afford adequate legal representation, and is outrageously disproportionate along racial lines. Few white-collar killers sit on death row and fewer are ever executed. And there is no real evidence that it deters murder; it just satisfies revenge.

More deeply, as Cardinal McCarrick explained, "For us, ending the use of the death penalty is not simply about politics, it is about our faith. We believe human life is a gift from God that is not ours to take away. ...We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. We cannot defend life by taking life."

In the past five years, 346 people have been executed in the United States. At the end of 2004, 3,455 people remain on death row. And though the Supreme Court has continued to narrow the scope of who is executed - prohibiting the execution of mentally retarded people and those who were juveniles when they committed a crime - executions continue. Already in the first three months of this year, 12 executions have taken place.

The results of a new poll of Catholics conducted by Zogby International were also released on Monday. John Zogby reported that "support for the use of the death penalty among American Catholics has plunged in the past few years." The just-completed poll showed that 48.5% support the death penalty and 48.4% oppose it. As recently as October 2003, an ABC/Washington Post poll showed 62% support and 34% opposed. And, Zogby noted, "Of particular interest is the finding...that frequent attendees of Mass are less likely to support the death penalty. Traditionally, this group has been seen as among the most politically conservative cohort...." And, unlike the general population, "the most popular reasons why Catholics oppose the death penalty are related to 'Thou shalt not kill' and 'respect for life.' They lead over such important concerns as poor legal representation among the condemned, the conviction and sentencing of some innocent people, and racially discriminatory practices on capital murder cases."

Also present at the news conference were Bud Welch, whose daughter was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, and Kurt Bloodsworth, who spent nearly nine years in prison, including on death row, before being exonerated of a murder conviction through DNA testing. Welch eloquently concluded: "My conviction is simple: More violence is not what Julie would have wanted. More violence will not bring Julie back. More violence only makes our society more violent."

The new Catholic Campaign will continue education within the church. A new Web site, http://www.ccedp.org, contains information on church teaching, facts about the death penalty, educational resources, and suggestions for action. The church also will act by continuing its advocacy in Congress and the courts.

I welcome this new campaign, and I am pleased the Bishops have taken this strong and hopeful initiative. It is a new and important step in affirming the consistent ethic of life so strongly emphasized in Catholic social teaching. And, I join Cardinal McCarrick's words:

"I've come to believe the death penalty hurts all of us, not just the one being executed. It diminishes and contradicts our respect for all human life and dignity. ...I hope I will see the day when the nation I love no longer relies on violence to confront violence. I pray I will see the day when we have given up the illusion that we can teach that killing is wrong by killing people."

May that be the hope and prayer of all of us this Holy Week.

Sojourners