Differing views on death penalty stem from beliefs, panelists say

Published: 2006-05-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Dale Recinella, a lay Catholic chaplain for prisoners on Florida's death row and in long-term solitary confinement, knows how religious beliefs influence the way people think about the death penalty. Prior to working in the ministry he began eight years ago, Recinella said, he "hadn't realized how many people felt the death penalty was God's word." Now he frequently hears Christians back up their support of capital punishment by citing passages such as "an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth." When he explains spiritual reasons against the death penalty to people of faith, the reaction he often gets is one of relief "that they are not bound by their faith to support something that is against their instincts," he said during an April 27 panel discussion on "Religions and the Culture of Life." It was part of the April 26-27 International Prayer for Peace interfaith conference at Georgetown University in Washington, co-sponsored by the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community, the Archdiocese of Washington, Georgetown University and The Catholic University of America.

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