April 25, 2010
Reported by staff reporters
Written by Lydia Ma

On April 6, PCT issued a statement during its 55th General Assembly in support of abolishing capital punishment based on its religious convictions. According to this statement, human beings were created in God's image, given immeasurable dignity and value, and that is why even murderers have human rights.

The statement underscored that though offenders should be punished according to their crimes, the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment that is both irreversible and widely abused. It is also fraught with problems because Taiwan's judicial system's impartiality and fairness has been compromised. Furthermore, churches and organizations around the world have come to agree that death penalties don't alleviate social problems or crime.

The statement urged Taiwanese society to abide by their religious convictions instead of giving in to their feelings, by taking a step toward forgiveness and reconciliation. It said even murderers should be given the chance to live so that they might accept Christ, repent of their sins, and use the rest of their lives to reconcile with victims' families and pay restitution.

When this statement was first read in the recent 55th PCT General Assembly, some pastors were worried that it was adopted too hastily and they would have a hard time convincing their parishioners. They also feared that passing such a statement when the general population still viewed capital punishment as a sensitive issue might fuel controversy within churches.

In response to their concerns, former PCT General Assembly Moderator Leonard Lin stressed that there are currently 44 inmates on death row that could be executed starting June – making the abolition of the death penalty a pressing life and death issue that everyone should be concerned about.

Lin further noted that PCT had campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty for more than 15 years. With rising suspicions that there have been mishandled cases, wrong sentences, and instances of torture used to extract confessions, the integrity of the judiciary needs to be improved. More importantly, PCT must make a stand when debate on the death penalty keeps deviating from the real issues at stake.

Experts give their take during PCT forum on death penalty

Dr. Cheng Yang-en, Vice-Principal of Taiwan Theological College and Seminary According to Dr. Cheng Yang-en, Vice-Principal of Taiwan Theological College and Seminary, capital punishment is contrary to Christian teachings and cannot improve any situation.

"Abolishing the death penalty is an obvious ecumenical trend. There hasn't been much debate about that," said Cheng, adding that both WCC and WARC passed resolutions opposing the death penalty in 1990 and 2004 respectively, and called on member churches to support the abolition of the death penalty.

Cheng pointed out that WCC and WARC hold the conviction that when executioners put someone to death, they are essentially doing to the offender what the latter did to his victims. Furthermore, capital punishment is contrary to the message of the cross and contrary to the idea of justice.

He underscored that Christianity seeks to redeem lives, not destroy lives, as its way of solving the world's problems. Using the death penalty to get rid of sin doesn't work and stands against the core and spirit of Christianity.

Rev. Chen Nan-jou, Former Vice-Principal of Yu-Shan Seminary Contextual theology expert Rev. Chen Nan-jou observed that Taiwanese people are very zealous when it comes to religion, but unenthusiastic when it comes to applying religious convictions to the death penalty. That is why they support the death penalty by and large.

Chen urged churches to reflect on four issues. First, the public's massive support for the death penalty should convince churches that they haven't done enough in proclaiming gospel and living out the teachings of Christ.

Second, churches haven't done enough to help and reach out to victims and their families. Too many of them still live in despair because of their loss and can't release their bitterness or move on with life.

Third, churches are not tuned to social trends and don't know the breadth of the gospel well enough. That explains why they don't know how to use it to comfort people living in the midst of a violent and corrupt society.

Finally, the church is not involved enough in social issues and hasn't done enough outreach. This phenomenon explains why churches are powerless to oversee government agencies, such as the judiciary, when it becomes corrupt. As a Christian and on behalf of churches, Chen feels the need repent and ask for God's mercy and forgiveness. He emphasized, "When Christians debate on the theological dimensions of the death penalty, they must consider our flawed judicial system and strive to reform the judiciary."

Rev. Huang Ming-chen, General Secretary of Prison Fellowship Taiwan According to Rev. Huang, putting criminals to death won't comfort or heal the hearts of victims' families and there are better options to restore justice.

"I admit that gunning down a criminal might relieve victims' families temporarily, but they will not be comforted by executions in the long run," said Huang when asked about his views on whether or not to abolish the death penalty.

"Crime begins at home and later manifests itself in school grounds. Our social environment worsens crime. So, who is to blame for crime? The answer is: It all went wrong at the very beginning – at home. Bad home environments cultivated crime and it spilled over and led to notorious crimes and notorious criminals on death row. But governments are also to blame for how it all went wrong at the other end. They used their leverage to get rid of criminals by taking away human lives. This is not fair for either the victims' families or the offenders' families."

Huang feels that those on death row should be given a chance to start over if they have repented of their crimes. Those who choose not to repent should spend the rest of their lives in confinement and labor so that they can pay restitution with their labor. This ought to be how we restore justice.

He further emphasized the death penalty will not make our streets or homes safer. In the same way, hiring ex-convicts and hiring a regular guy incurs the same level of risk. The difference is really just in our minds because of how we discriminate against those who have been in prison.

Li Sheng-hsiong, lawyer, Chairman of PCT Church Law Committee Li stated that the purpose of laws is to ensure that society progresses along the right path and help inmates repent of their sins. But the death penalty cannot fulfill these two purposes and the current judicial system is riddled with flaws that make wrong sentences likely. That is why we must at least put a moratorium on the death penalty.

He went on to point out that laws have punishments attached to them to serve three purposes: retribution, deter crime, and educate the public. Most people support the death penalty because they believe it will deter crime. However, studies have shown otherwise and, ironically, countries that have abolished the death penalty enjoy better public safety.

In response to the high level of public support for keeping the death penalty, Li commented, "Some things cannot be decided through a poll. Sometimes, the public can be misinformed and their opinions can be wrong. Sometimes, public opinions can even impede progress."

From a human rights perspective, wrong sentences are possible but once a death sentence has been carried out, we've passed the point of no return. "The death penalty cannot adequately punish, deter, or reform someone. The only way to decrease crime is to change people's hearts," concluded Li.

That is why he believes Christians must do more to share the gospel with inmates so that they can repent of their sins. But he also points out that unless people manage to forgive, the execution of criminals will not heal any wounds – further proving the death penalty is not effective.

Taiwan Church News