The Morality of Capital Punishment We are at a time when considerable national attention is being given to the morality of capital punishment, so let's discuss it in detail in this essay. While death-preserving punishment is by no means at the top of my moral concerns, I can think of no compelling reason – except perhaps one, which I'll get to – why a clearly guilty terrorist like Timothy McVeigh shouldn't be executed. But I think we are often confused about why this might be appropriate, a confusion that manifests itself in our desire to give therapeutic "closure" to victims' families by allowing those family members to witness the execution. If and when a state inflicts the death penalty on one of its citizens, it is imperative that such action be understood as a public action and not a private one. For Christians this happens because the State, by God's ordinance, is authorized in certain circumstances to serve the common good even by taking the life of a duly convicted criminal. When God makes His covenant with Noah after the great flood, promising never again to destroy “all flesh,” this promise is fulfilled in part through the government, which, by carrying out righteous punishment, implements appropriate retribution for crimes. So, what none of us are permitted to do as private citizens on our own authority, the state can do, not because it is itself "master" of life and death, but because it is the authorized agent of that God who is that Lord. Of course, many of our fellow citizens will not understand the work of government in terms grounded in Genesis 9 and Romans 13. As a people we are more likely to think of government in terms that social contract theorists have taught us: as founded to stop the l the injustice they commit... middle of paper... a simple elimination from the only community whose existence everyone recognizes. And, of course, if execution equals elimination, it is truly an act of God. This, in any case, is the point that really requires our attention. To the extent that in our public life – as a people – we refuse to talk about God, it may be that we, as a people, should not inflict a death sentence. But it would be a great shame if, in our debates over the death penalty, we lost the ability to clearly articulate the meaning of government, punishment, and justice. WORKS CITED: (1) Modern History Sourcebook http://www .fordham.edu/halsall/mod/hobbes-lev13.html (2) Catechism of the Catholic Church http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc .html(3)Catholicism and capital punishment http:// www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0104/articles/dulles.html