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The Sanctity Of Life And Capital Punishment

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Quote from John Stuart Mill: In our understandable desire to be fair and to protect the rights of offenders in our criminal justice system, let us never ignore or minimize the rights of their victims. The death penalty is a necessary tool that reaffirms the sanctity of human life while assuring that convicted killers will never again prey upon others.
Executive Summary
In this paper I seek to identify if the sanctity of life and capital punishment are compatible within the context of society, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This paper will shed light on the perspective of the sanctity of life of those who practice Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Each faith agree on some respects of the sanctity of life but differ in their approach to …show more content…

Genesis 1:26 holds true for the Christian faith as well:
“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea…’ so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27, KJV).
God values each life because He created it. It is with this perspective that every believer should value each human life. Since we have all been created in God’s image we should esteem other’s lives just as much as we esteem our own.
The exceptions that are presented with capital punishment in Christianity can date back into medieval times with the Inquisition. During this time, the Inquisition was purposed to rid the land of anything and anyone that did not believe in God. Capital punishment looked differently back then and we read about the hangings, the beheadings. When charged with a crime, innocent or guilty, the execution of the judgment was always carried out. Islam
“Human life is considered sacred in Islam on the basis that humanity is a creation of God. Human beings, and consequently their lives, are sacred because they are bearers of “the divine breath” (nafkha) within themselves…” (3)
The three faiths seem to agree on the sacredness of life as well as the source of creation beginning with God. The forms of capital punishment are where the three faiths differ. The Islamic faith can be misrepresented at times because we are only informed

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