In a June 18 letter to the editor headlined “Beliefs consistent,” Lorri Sheakley professed that Catholic beliefs backing the “honorable” murder of capital punishment go hand in hand with Catholics' belief that abortion is “unacceptable” murder. I offer a rebuttal. First, she insists that everyone on death row is guilty, and deserves to be there. Let's address that nonsense first. With minimal research, I found a list of more than 140 men who were pardoned recently — not to serve life, but to be freed. They were found to be innocent. DNA technology is doing great things to free innocent men, but the Sheakleys of the world would automatically kill a potentially innocent man. She went on to try to justify murdering potentially innocent people by dusting off the old chestnut “an eye for an eye.” It's so typically Catholic to take anything they want from any testament they please and piously spew that “God said so.” If “an eye for an eye” is to be taken seriously, it makes Christ's death on the cross completely meaningless. Anyone even mildly knowledgeable of Bible teachings recognizes Matthew 5:38 when it says, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Where does she think the term “turn the other cheek” came from?
