Capital punishment

The following sample essay on: “Capital punishment”. Сapital punishment is a controversial issue within religions and individual adherents.

I wrote the intro but in yellow is my essay if u need help. I can probably help out more if u needCapital punishment is a state authorisation of a death sentence. after a person is legally convicted of a capital crime. Offences such as premeditated murder are considered as capital crimes and, in many cases, punishable by death. There are various viewpoints from different religions in relationship to capital punishment despite it being an act that is enforced by the state.

These beliefs and viewpoints come from the messages that are taught by the sacred texts of the religion and their answers to the ultimate questions of life. In Islam, sharia law teaches that capital punishment is an appropriate punishment for the premeditated murder of an innocent person and Fasad fil-ardh. However, due to the fact that a key teaching of the Islamic faith is forgiveness, there is a growth of abolitionist views on the act of capital punishment.

Nevertheless, due to the enforcement of strict sharia law in many Islamic states, capital punishment is still enforced and supported. Contrasting this (stuff on buddhism). Capital punishment is a controversial issue for world religions and adherents due to the fact it doesn’t promote forgiveness despite being a form of punishment for serious crimes

Islam is the state religion for a large number of counties, many of these nations also enforce strict Sharia Law.

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Sharia Law permits the action of capital punishment as long as it is under the ailments established in the Quran. Sharia law is important for Islam as it guides Muslims to lead their lives according to Gods will. The five major goals of the Sharia are the protection of sound religious practice, life, sanity, the family, and personal and communal wealth (teaching tolerance, 2019). These five major goals are referred to as the five indispensables and are extremely important to the faith. Each Islamic state vary the extent of which capital punishment is enforced according to how strict they practise their Sharia Law; however, all of the state has the sentence as in the Quran God says that … If anyone kills a personunless it is for murder or for spreading mischief in the landit would be as if he killed all people. And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all people(Quran 5:32). The sacredness of life on earth is a through line within all world religions; subsequently, as established in the Quran it is a serious transgression to take away life from an innocent person. Ultimately, one’s eternal punishment is in God’s hands, but Muslims believe there is a place for punishment enacted by society in this life as well as god said, O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered But whoever overlooks from his brother anything, then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment (Quran 2:178) Whilst many nations tend to criticize the Islamic justice system and the implementation of the death penalty, the court system does not act vigilantly and a person must be convicted of a crime by the court before the punishment is undertaken. Capital punishment is look as to be of great importance to the court system as it is philosophised that a tough punishment prevents serious crimes that harm individual victims or that threaten to destabilize the foundation of society (Huda, 2019). This is enforced in the Quran as god commands, Take not life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus, does He command you (Quran 6:151). In the Quran, capital punishment is deemed as a suitable punishment for premeditated murder of an innocent and Fasaad fi al-ardh, (spreading mischief throughout the land) and this is enforced through sharia law. However, within the Islamic faith, adherents are beginning to resent the use capital punishment especially for cases of Fasaad fi al-ardh. This abolitionist viewpoint stream from one of the primary Islamic messages being the encouragement of using forgiveness for justice; meaning that forms of justice such as capital punishment must be mandated. Groups of Muslim adherents believe Allah is the only one who has the power to take away life, and consequently by maintain capital punishment humans are ‘playing God’ and committing shirk which is a sin. The Sunni and Shia Islam variants both mandate and support capital punishment for Hudud crimes meaning that are considered to be against Allah. These crimes include homosexual relationships, apostasy, and adultery. Muslim sufishm variants however typically do not support capital punishment as they focus on the renunciation of worldly things, purification of the soul and the mystical contemplation of Gods nature(Megan Specia, 2017). Typically, Sufi Muslims believe that enacting capital punishment is shirk. This causes confliction between Sufism adherents and Sunni and Shia adherents. Muslim adherent and professor of Islamic studies at oxford university Tariq Ramadan believe capital punishment is immoral and wrote in his article that We call for an immediate international moratorium on corporal punishment, stoning and the death penalty in all Muslim majority countries The opinions of most scholars, regarding the comprehension of the texts and the application of hudud, are neither explicit nor unanimous political systems and the state of the majority Muslim societies do not guarantee a just and equal treatment of individuals before the law, it is our moral obligation and religious responsibility to demand for the immediate suspension of the application of the hudud which is inaccurately accepted as an application of ‘Islamic sharia'(Tariq Ramadan, 2005)

In the biblical teachings for Christianity, the old testament implies the promotion of capital punishment. However, the beliefs regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty for capital crimes varies between Christian variants as well as individual adherents as the messages in sacred texts can be interpreted differently. The principle for capital punishment in Christianity stems from the creation belief; God produced humankind in the image of himself, therefore meaning that life is sacred, thus those who take the lives of an innocent person has sinned and loses the privilege to their life (Prison Fellowship, 2019). This belief of maintaining lifes sanctity is enforced by Genesis 9:6, in this biblical passage God tells Noah, “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man” (Genesis 9:6). This is the principle Lex talionis; when the punishment for a crime is of the same nature/ degree as the transgression. Lex talionis only works if the state acts not on its own authority but as the agent of God, who does have legal power over life and death (BBC, 2009). For much of the Christian churchs history, capital punishment has been viewed as an acceptable consequence for serious crimes. Pope Innocent III for example had the proposition that “The secular power can, without mortal sin, exercise judgment of blood, provided that it punishes with justice, not out of hatred, with prudence, not precipitation.” (Pope Innocent III). This is supported by Genesis 9:6. Christians believe that god gave the law to Moses on the mountain of Sinai, when God spoke to moses he told him about crimes that are punishable by death. As shown in Exodus 20-23, Leviticus 20 and 24, and Deuteronomy 21-24; some of the crimes include, “murder (but not accidental killings), striking or cursing a parent, kidnapping, adultery, incest, bestiality, sodomy, rape of a betrothed virgin, witchcraft Prison fellowship, 2019). Many Christians believe that god supports capital punishment as when speaking to Moses he said, “If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23). The death penalty is supported throughout the old testament with the bible specifying 35 capital offences that are punishable by the death penalty. However, today many of these offences have been reconsidered and deemed unacceptable to be punishable by death. As crimes such as magic and blasphemy are no longer capital crimes Christians say it is inconsistent to preserve murder alone as a capital crime(BBC, 2009). There are mixed viewpoints for Christian adherents in reference to capital punishment. Typically, protestants are more likely to be in favour of the death penalty than members of other religious factions and denominations (BBC, 2009). In the New testament, Jesus teaches Do not resist him that is wicked; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other also to im (Matthew 5:39). In Matthew 5:39 Jesus refers to responding to wrongdoings without revenge avoiding rendering evil for evil. This contradicts the teachings of Lex talionis – an eye for an eye in the old testament. The late Pope John Paul II supports Jesus’s teachings in the new testament saying The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform (Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995). Another reason for the uprising of abolitionist views is that in the 10 commandments, God commanded “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 21:13). Many Christians see this commandment to be black and white and insinuate that the death penalty is wrong. However, Saint Augustine wrote that. The same divine law which forbids the killing of a human being allows certain exceptions, as when God authorises killing by a general law or when he gives an explicit commission to an individual for a limited time. Since the agent of authority is but a sword in the hand, and is not responsible for the killing, it is in no way contrary to the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ to wage war at God’s bidding, or for the representatives of the State’s authority to put criminals to death, according to law or the rule of rational justice. (Saint Augustine, 1274)

In conclusion, capital punishment is a controversial issue within religions and individual adherents. For both Christianity and Islam, their sacred texts and teachings support capital punishment for capital crimes, however in the modern-day society some believe these teachings are outdated and therefore trust that forgiveness and reconciliation is more appropriate. In Islam, capital punishment is used for murder or Fasaad fi al-ardh in order to maintain the innocence life and have justice. Similarly, for Christianity, there are messages throughout the sacred texts saying that the act of taking an innocent life is punishable by death. However, in both religions, adherents choose to not support the death penalty due to the fact that religious teachings such as forgiveness are more important.