tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1881105681048936638.post117726136277764118..comments2023-11-05T01:26:28.397-07:00Comments on God's Pencil: Pots & KettlesTerryChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07534442176545473283noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1881105681048936638.post-3385820211044611342008-04-07T12:29:00.000-07:002008-04-07T12:29:00.000-07:00Terry,You make an important, nuanced point. I thi...Terry,<BR/><BR/>You make an important, nuanced point. I think it is safe to say no doctrine of the Catholic church can be explained in less than a book, let alone a sentence.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13687197922675722032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1881105681048936638.post-4885775411460048322008-04-06T12:39:00.000-07:002008-04-06T12:39:00.000-07:00Being opposed to the death penalty is a legitimate...Being opposed to the death penalty is a legitimate Catholic stand. I oppose the death penalty as it is imposed in the United States, for all of the reasons you mention.<BR/>However the point is not whether it is alright for a Catholic to oppose the death penalty. The point is that the Church does not teach that the death penalty is at all times and places against Catholic teaching. That was the impression given by the "Master Catechist" in the article. That was a case of a person passing off their own views as the teaching of the Church, the very thing the writer was cautioning against.TerryChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07534442176545473283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1881105681048936638.post-67641870398599382302008-04-05T19:29:00.000-07:002008-04-05T19:29:00.000-07:00I take your point about it being a legitimate du...I take your point about it being a legitimate duty in Christ to protect others and yourself against harm, but I am a Christian who opposes the death penalty on the ground that judicial proceedure has often been found unreliable, and up to half the convicted murderers on one state's death row were found on subsequent investigation to be innocent! For that reason, I believe, life imprisonment but beware of imposing anything that cannot be redressed. Keep the offender from doing future harm but leave room for release if it turns out that they were wrongly convicted. And that HAS happened. It will not be on my conscience that the innocent went to the gas chamber, the gallows, or any other such place. That is my prompting from the God of Jesus Christ in Whom I believe.Andrew Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14685970347404504083noreply@blogger.com