Christians and capital punishmentThe reinstatement of the death penalty by the Supreme Court has sparked statements of opposition from some Christians to across the country. This essay reflects on these statements and draws conclusion about their relevance and accuracy in light of our Christian heritage and other secular and practical reasons. These statements recognize that Christians with equally serious moral concerns can and do disagree on the issue of capital punishment. We must honor personal freedom in Christ so that different people can exercise their moral discernment and come to different conclusions on this issue. Yet many Christians feel compelled to bear witness to our views and ask the American people to pay attention to us. The death penalty could be justified as the lesser of two evils if it could be conclusively shown that by inhibiting violent crime it served as an important protection for society. However, the bulk of sociological research strongly suggests the opposite: licit violence may actually encourage criminal violence. Since the sociology of...... middle of paper...... Its actual use in our state demeans us all. It undermines our common dignity as human persons and violates our declared respect for human life. That crimes must be punished goes without saying to us. That the punishment be adapted to both the crime and the criminal, we consider this to be the constant objective of our courts. If the law of the land were to mature to the point of prohibiting the retaliatory violence of punishing crime by killing the criminal, we would consider this a triumph of God's redemptive sovereignty in human affairs..