Back to Resolutions
|
|
A
Resolution: The Death Penalty, 2001
Mennonite Church USA
In view of our Christian
responsibility to value all human life we are compelled to set forth
our opposition to all capital punishment.
Whereas
- The General Conference
Mennonite Church called for "federal and state governments . . . to
discontinue the use of the death penalty" at Estes Park, Colorado, July
16, 1965;
- The Mennonite Church
called for "federal and state governments . . . to discontinue the use
of the death penalty" at Kidron, Ohio, August 1965;
- The criminal justice
system has sent innocent people to death row, and the death penalty is
applied in a racially-discriminatory fashion, and disproportionately to
some of society's most vulnerable people; and
- We acknowledge the
deep grief of families of murder victims and victims of capital
punishment laws; hold them in our prayers; and commit ourselves to walk
with them;
Therefore we resolve that
Mennonite Church USA appeal to state and federal governments to abolish
the death penalty.
We resolve further that
the Executive Director of Mennonite Church USA address this issue with
the President of the United States and urge area conferences to address
relevant governors.
We further urge
congregations to take action to support abolition of the death penalty
through prayer, letter writing, and public vigils at murder sites and
at prisons where executions occur.
Adopted by Mennonite Church USA Delegate
Assembly, Nashville, Tennessee, July 7, 2001, Minutes, p. 49.
 Back
to Resolutions Index
|
|