Supreme Court bans juvenile executions

[Richard]

This is a disaster, especially if you read the opinion.  Too bad.  Maybe in the future the Supreme Court wil reconsider it again.  This is a very unconstitutional ruling.

[Richard]

Bwhahahaha.  Excellent post.

[Richard]

Well, Western Europe, Latin America and much of Asia, actually. Just a sidenote, though.

Here is a gedanken experiment for you:
What if the Massachusetts gay marriage dilemma goes to the Supreme Court.  Imagine that the majority rules that gay marriage must be banned in the U.S. as a whole based on:
--A large majority of states ban gay marriage.
--There has been an "evolving standard of decency", as evinced by the recent bans sweeping the nation, that gay marriage is morally wrong.
--A large majority of countries in the international community ban gay marriage and the majority of people on this planet believe homosexuality is evil.

Would you call this a solid Court ruling?  I certainly would not.  Substituting a morality test for the constitutional test can cut both ways.

The phrase 'cruel and unusual punishment' is the Constitution (or rather its authors) asking for a morality test!

No, it has a literal interpretation.  Cruel and unusual have nothing to do with ethics.

[Richard]

Show me any quote where Jesus says the death penalty should be strickly forbidden or banned?

1.) While not specific, John 8:3-11 gives a message of peace and forgiveness more than of stoning people for their sins.

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Should we just forgive all criminals and open the gates of the prisons?

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Argument error:  shifting burden of proof.  Don't.  Jesus never said I'm not allowed to eat ice cream, yet I'm reasonably sure He wouldn't object.  The burden of proof is on YOU.

[Richard]

Not necessarily, but lighter prison sentences would be good, let alone abolition of the death penalty.

Like, 1 year for a rape, 6 months for a murderer, 2 weeks for kidnapping...

Yeah I can see that work real well in society.  We should just all forgive and forget, like Jesus ordererd.

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Yes.  God ordered the execution of people for certain crimes.

[Richard]

Not necessarily, but lighter prison sentences would be good, let alone abolition of the death penalty.

Like, 1 year for a rape, 6 months for a murderer, 2 weeks for kidnapping...

Yeah I can see that work real well in society.  We should just all forgive and forget, like Jesus ordererd.

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Yes.  God ordered the execution of people for certain crimes.

Name every crime that God ordered execution for in the New Testament, as the Law of Moses was replaced by Jesus.

Not replaced, fulfilled.  Nice of you to ignore the first part of the message too.