Catholic Revelation

Is the Death Penalty Ever Justifiable?

One day not so long ago, I was on a theology website that I log onto from time, and a question was posed to all the subscribers: “Is it okay to hate?” As I reflected upon this question I remembered the book of Psalms. In the book of Psalms, the psalmist laments the suffering he endures at the hands of his enemies, but at the same time he praises God who destroys the wicked who inflict the suffering. The psalmist brings his hate to God and does not sugar coat his feelings. He gives to the Lord a very honest and shocking account of his feelings:

“Let their own table before them become a snare; let their sacrificial feasts be a trap. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see; and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out thy indignation upon them, and let thy burning anger over take them. May their camp be a desolation, let no one dwell in their tents.” Psalm 69:22-25.

It is hard for many Christians to understand how this verse and others like it belong in Holy Scripture. How do we reconcile such hate with the Lord’s command to love our enemies? However, I think the real question is: Are we being honest with God if we say that we have never experienced such hate or never wished for the demise of our enemies? After all, we do not have to go very far to find evil, and when we do we expect justice to be swift and harsh. Sometimes, we feel that the only appropriate punishment for the perpetrator of such evil is death.

I have felt just like the Psalmist pouring his heart out to God. It happened once about 16 years ago when I opened my newspaper to see a fireman tenderly cradling a dying baby in his arms. The baby looked to be about two years old and she was the victim of the Oklahoma City bombing. My youngest daughter was about the same age as this child and so it was difficult not to imagine my own baby in the arms of that fireman, the victim of a horrific crime. The feeling I had toward Timothy McVeigh was sheer hatred; there is just no other way to describe it. I yearned for justice to be swift and harsh and nothing less than death seemed right. I felt completely justified in my hatred, for I did not see Timothy McVeigh as a human being, but as the devil. It is not wrong to hate the devil and desire his demise. God gives us a conscience and an ability to hate evil so that we gravitate toward good. We, like the Psalmist in the book of Psalms, lament such evil and often beg God to answer our call for justice. Read more...