Sun 2 November 2008

Captial Punishment (My Opinion)

This was an assignment in one of my college courses that I thought I'd share...

Since the colonial times, around 13,000 people have been executed in the United States (http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut3.htm). Capital punishment has always carried a very trivial roll for many and I believe the key reason to this is the conflict many of us have in our minds while reviewing the subject. It is easy to accept that if someone else causes us harm that we should return the favor. If the favor is returned our taxes stop going towards paying the keeping these criminals alive. When I imagine the anger and pain that would be associated with losing someone that I loved by way of homicide I can understand why so many people feel this way. Truthfully I've never really given this subject the thought it deserves until now and I always supported capitol punishment (by any means necessary) up until I applied a little critical thinking. The article reviewed as titled “Florida Mulls Lethal-Injection Problems” would not have made me bat a single eye in my past (even as of yesterday), I would have smiled and maybe even laughed at the pain that this murderer endured due to a botched lethal injection. As a man, I feel both empowered and obligated to protect my family. The word family could be perceived by many people to be a group of people that you care for deeply. Many care deeply for our nation or even just for humanity in general and so their passion rages defensively towards those who commit homicide; and in truth, so does mine. “Public approval of the death penalty is currently about 70%” (http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut3.htm).

One simple fact that has always remained to be true in my life is that those feelings that come natural to me, are usually not the feelings that I want and certainly are not the feelings I need to base my life choices off of. Before I began to recognize this, I cannot recall a time that I had a reaction in its purest form that would ultimately lead me to the correct decision. We as people are most comfortable in our selfness. I have tried to analyze the reasons that our society either gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down and I cannot help but continually return to a single perspective that governs the thumb; the value of the soul.

As a Christian I believe that our souls remain in either heaven or hell upon the death of our earthly bodies. It is at the core of my faith to care for and love humanity; I am both passionate about and feel called to bring as many people with me to heaven as I can. If I was to give anyone a thumbs down, I would be giving up on my faith and love for humanity because I would be declaring that there was no hope for someone when there is hope for everyone through the power of my God.

There are many religions, ethics and creeds that have assigned value to a persons soul and this seems to be the heart of the thumbs up. In a discussion question taking place in another class of mine my instructor asked what I felt the difference was between opinion and belief. My response was, “If a belief was just an opinion I wouldn't die for it, if I wouldn't die for it I certainly wouldn't live of it, and if I wouldn't live for it there wouldn't be a belief to have an “opinion” about.” I believe that there is hope for everyone.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1270462901&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=2606&RQT=309&VName=PQD

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