CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

The position on capital punishment of the General Conference Mennonite Church as adopted at Estes Park, Colorado, July 16, 1965.

In View Of our Christian responsibility to give witness to the righteousness which God requires of all men, we are constrained to set forth our convictions concerning capital punishment.

Our Belief

Since Christ through His redemptive work has fulfilled the requirement of the death penalty, and has given the church a ministry of reconciliation, and in view of the injustice and ineffectiveness of capital punishment as a means for the achievement of the purpose of government, we express our conviction that its use should be discontinued.  In view of the prophetic commission given to the church, therefore, we appeal to the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada and to the federal and state governments of the United States, to discontinue the use of the death penalty and to set rehabilitation as the ultimate goal in the treatment of the criminal, expressing a positive attitude to the offender, thus further encouraging the peace and order which under the lordship of Christ the state is commissioned to provide.

Our Confession and Our Prayer

In view of our responsibility as ministers of reconciliation we confess that we have not adequately fulfilled our obligation to work for the abolition of capital punishment or for the reduction of crime in our society.  We need to be more faithful in serving persons in prison and in laboring for the reform of prison procedures; for the rehabilitation of released prisoners; and for the improvement of the economic, social, and religious conditions which contribute to the making of juvenile offenders and to the spread ofcrime.

We pray that in our brotherhood the Spirit may deepen each member’s conviction and understanding of his obligation to individual criminal offenders, to the government under which he lives, and to Christ.  And we pray that God may grant us wisdom, vision, and courage that as a brotherhood we may engage in this ministry as the Holy Spirit gives usdirection.

General Conference Mennonite Church

722 Main Street

Box 347

Newton, KS 67114-0347