10 September 2008

Good Point

From an atheist lesbian Democrat:

I have never understood the standard Democratic combo of support for abortion and yet opposition to the death penalty. Surely it is the guilty rather than the innocent who deserve execution?

HT: JT

3 comments:

ErinOrtlund said...

Very true. But the opposite could be argued too--that a pro-life and pro-capital punishment stance isn't consistent.

Dane Ortlund said...

Thanks for the feedback Erin. I disagree.

The point made in the quote is relative guilt and innocence. There is no inconsistency in wanting innocent babies to live and guilty criminals to die, is there? But there is inconsistency in letting innocent babies die and guilty criminals live. Am I overlooking something?

ErinOrtlund said...

Hey Dane--I haven't really thought through the issue of capital punishment as much as that of abortion. You probably know a lot more than I do about it. I believe that one of the primary reasons why most western countries abolished the death penalty is because of concerns that innocent people might be put to death. I don't know what's going on in Illinois now, but back when I lived there, George Ryan put a stop to all executions for that reason.

I wish the US would abolish the death penalty too--but it's not something I'm particularly passionate about, and I find abortion much more upsetting.