The Death Penalty is Killing; Thou Shall Not Kill

Every religion has a prohibition against killing: Thou shalt not kill. When a person is executed by a government, he is executed by the people i .e. citizens of the State of California. Each government carries out the will of the people when carrying out an execution. Each of us is one of the people. Whenever a government executes a person, each of us is responsible for that killing … we become murderers collectively and individually. Whether we kill as individuals or as a mob as members of a government, we are still killers. Every time a death penalty is carried out, we citizens are all responsible for that killing.

We have a code of law which is not a code of vengeance, which is quite difference from justice. A code of vengeance (revenge) has never been adopted, only a code of law; we must recognize they are quite different. If a person kills your sister, what you want on the animal level is vengeance … an eye for an eye. We can never teach people not to kill by killing. Vengeance is not justice and every citizen must know the difference.