Sir, – Hugh Pierce (Letters, April 25th) stated: “Throughout the modern era Christians of all denominations have been enthusiastic practitioners, proponents and facilitators of the death penalty.” Yet Amnesty International provides figures for 2013 which show the US as the only country in the Christian Americas that performed state executions.
In the EU, not practising capital punishment is a prerequisite for membership. Those few European countries outside the EU which still have capital punishment on their statute books performed no executions last year.
According to Amnesty there were 22 countries worldwide that carried out state executions in 2013. Of those only the US and South Sudan could be said to have Christianity as the religion of a sizeable proportion of their populations. It seems to me that in the modern era “Christian” countries are increasingly following the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Yours, etc,
JOHN BELLEW,
Dunleer,
Co Louth
Sir, – Further to the letters discussing Christianity and judicial execution, the catechism of the Catholic Church states (para 2267) that the “teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor”. Yours, etc,
DR JOHN DOHERTY,
Cnoc an Stollaire,
Gaoth Dobhair
Sir, – Your letters page will surely flourish for as long as we read, alternately, that “throughout the modern era Christians of all denominations have been enthusiastic practitioners, proponents and facilitators of the death penalty” (Hugh Pierce); that Christ Himself “blessed murderers, calling for their forgiveness and asked His followers to do the same” (Geoff Scargill); that “one can be a perfectly authentic Christian and support capital punishment” (Sean Alexander Smith); that Christ’s three most recent representatives on Earth “reaffirmed the Holy See’s support for the abolition of the death penalty as part of the Church’s defence of the dignity of human life” (Ian d’Alton) – and all this against a backdrop of Christ’s own Father having definitively decreed that “whomsoever takes a life shall surely be put to death” (Hugh Pierce).
All I know, sir, is that, along with the aforementioned chroniclers, you have me all of a doodah. Yours, etc,
OWEN MORTON,
Station Road,
Sutton,
Dublin 13