Re: Can a murderer ever be redeemed?

[JMHACLJ]

In a message dated 12/13/2005 1:20:06 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:     Yet surely the answer is that it's perfectly legitimate for people to base either their support or opposition to capital punishment on religious justifications, just as it's legitimate for people to base their opposition to murder, slavery, racism, and the like on religious justification.  Am I mistaken?  Would some on this list argue otherwise? Eugene, of course you are correct, so far as you take your point.  There is no government orthodoxy, as I understand it, that may be imposed on the thinking of the People about matters of politics, religion, and the like (a separate fight, please, about the meaning of "imposed").  But what about when the question moves beyond support for or opposition to the death penalty to actual cases?  What happens when people of faith enter the jury box?   What then are the constitutional strictures?  If Venireman Smith may base his support for, or opposition to, the death penalty, on the teaching of his faith, how may the government modify its treatment of him in respect of that religious fount for his opinions and actions?   If, in honest answer during voir dire, he expresses the view that the death penalty is illicit in all cases, based on that religious belief, must he be excused for cause?  may he be excused for cause?   If Venireman Smith supports the death penalty for murder because of the teaching of his faith, must he be excluded from service while Venirewoman Jones be retained for service because her opinions on the death penalty are not traceable to religious teaching or faith?   May the Prosecutor (as I suspect is more likely) or the defense counsel inquire into religious faith with the intent and purpose of rooting out veniremen whose religious identity would likely predispose them in one way or another on the question of death?   Jim Henderson Senior Counsel ACLJ

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