Regarding capital punishment, I thought the letters published in the Globe (Jan. 31), while thought provoking, missed the point. Capital “punishment” for murder is not for “punishment,” nor primarily as a deterrent.
It is to fulfill the fundamental principle of justice. The essence of justice is equity, fairness. Criminals, especially murderers, commit acts to abolish the laws the Creator mandated for civilized society. In doing so, they, in effect, declare themselves violently opposed to that which alone can guarantee a civilized society — law and order. Murderers by their own actions declare they do not respect the sanctity of human life. Therefore, they should not be granted that sanctity for themselves.
When “murder” occurs at the instigation of an aggressor making war on an international scale, the defenders must kill (execute) the aggressors until “law and order” is restored. Thus defensive wars are “capital punishment” on an international proportion. The same “executions” must take place to stop violent insurrection on a national scale (e.g., America’s “Civil War”).
Capital punishment to validate the principle of justice pre-dates the Law of Moses by thousands of years. It is the first “law” God gave to Noah as he exited the ark after the flood to re-populate the earth.
“Whosoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed: for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6).
On the side of simple logic, Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative” rings true and practical, i.e., just universalize an action to determine whether it is right or wrong.
If any human may, for no reason and at any time, take the life of any other human, without equal penalty, then civilized society cannot be maintained.
Paul T. Butler
Joplin
