US bishops launch major campaign against death penalty
-20/03/05
Roman Catholic bishops in the US are beginning what they call a major campaign to end the use of the death penalty in the United States.
A bishop’s aide told the Boston Globe the bishops have been emboldened by two recent Supreme Court decisions that limit executions and by polls suggesting a dramatic increase in death penalty opposition among US Catholics.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is scheduled to announced the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty at a news conference in Washington.
The campaign will include working for new legislation, legal advocacy, education and a new Web site at www.ccedp.org.
“We think that, with a lot of work, the time will come, not too far down the road, when the United States no longer uses the death penalty,” said John Carr, director of social development and world peace at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The campaign marks the 25th anniversary of the US bishops’ first major statement against the death penalty in 1980.
Since 1976, 56 people have been executed in the United States, while 119 death row convicts have been exonerated, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group that opposes capital punishment.
Christian campaigners against execution will be heartened by the news that the US has finally bowed to international and domestic pressure, becoming the last country in the world officially to abolish the death penalty for offenders who were under 18 when they committed murder.
Many churches and Christian campaigners are opposed to the death penalty, based on their understanding of justice and respect for life.
These include: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, The World Council of Churches, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Episcopal Church, and the eastern orthodox churches.
The Pope John Paul II has also added his voice to support the renewal of the international campaign against the death penalty.
Last year Christians joined in protests against the death penalty in more than 300 cities around the world.
The former American president Jimmy Carter, known for his own Christian faith, said that by one of the latest Supreme Court rulings the US had joined “the community of nations”.