The National Latino Evangelical Coalition has voted to support repeal of the death penalty, calling it an anti-life practice. Urging their 3,000 congregations to support efforts to end capital punishment across the country, NaLEC joins an increasing number of Christians across the country and internationally who are realizing afresh the moral problems with the death penalty. Most recently Pope Francis went beyond the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church to call the “death penalty inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed.”
“After prayer, reflection, and dialog with anti-death penalty organizations like Equal Justice USA,” said Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of NaLEC, in a news release. “we felt compelled to add our voice to this important issue. As Christ followers, we are called to work toward justice for all. And as Latinos, we know too well that justice is not always even-handed.”
This decision follows a years-long discernment process by NaLEC. Through this process, they tried to understand the ‘Scriptural imperative to "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before our God,"’ and what this demanded that they do about the criminal justice system, particularly the death penalty.
As Rev. Salguero points out, there are substantial injustices in how the death penalty is administered: “[it] is plagued by racial and economic disparities and risks executing an innocent person.” This has led NaLEC to start advocating for its repeal. NaLEC is the first national association of evangelical congregations to take a position in favor of death penalty repeal.
Greg Williams is Communications Assistant for Sojourners.
Image: Death penalty protest in Seattle. Photo by javacolleen / Flickr.com
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