Moral Anthropology and the Death Penalty

I wanted to raise a question regarding our commitments to the dignity of the human person as Catholics and Christians. Rick presented what I think is an accurate portrayal of the general disagreement that exists today about "moral anthropology" as it relates to the death penalty. Rick suggests that we are not all speaking from the same place when we talk about the death penalty, and that Christians need to reframe the discussion and in order to avoid lapsing into arguments based on an "anthropology of autonomy" when we enter into discussions. So far, so good.

My concern is that placing too much emphasis on changing the underlying assumptions of our interlocutors may prevent us from dealing with injustice head-on. In other words, we should be doing more than talking; we also should be acting. The social teaching calls us to confront structures of injustice through a radical commitment to Christian love and the common good, grounded in the God-given dignity of the human person. Furthermore, we have special obligations to the poor, weak, despised, and excluded.

The death-penalty culture in the United States is rooted in structures of injustice in American society that have come under intense scrutiny in the social teaching. For instance: (1) It is deeply intertwined with our history of racism and continues to be applied in racially disparate fashion; (2) Our entrenched money culture produces a crimimal justice system consistently favors those with wealth; (3) Our culture of individulalism, and our weak sense of the common good, makes it easy to isolate and dehumanize criminals, which has produced a system of criminal jutice grounded in retribution as opposed to rehabilitation and reintegration; (4) Innocent people are routinely convicted of capital crimes.

This is a situation that "cries out in justice" for a response. Working to eliminate the death penalty, for example, is quite consistent with a Christian anthropolgy that sees the human person as sacred and inherently social. It may even be required in a situation where, as my colleague Bob Rodes says, there is a "special option for the rich." Catholic social teaching call us to solidarity with the poor, the undereducated, the mentally disabled, children, and others who are unfairly treated by our system of criminal justice.

I cannot force someone to accept my understanding of moral anthropology. I can, however, witness Christian love by refusing to acquiesce in social, legal, and political structures that debase and dehumanize certain human beings because their fellow citizens consider them to be of lesser value. I may even change a few minds along the way.