CAPITAL PUNISHMENT BAHA'I
UHJ Letter: capital.punishment.html
LETTER TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FROM BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL OMMUNITY
Secretary General
Amnesty International
Thank you for advising us of the campaign that Amnesty International is launching on the subject of the death penalty and for your invitation to express the views of the Baha'i International Community. As capital punishment is a subject that is dealt with explicitly in the Baha'i Scriptures, we feel that we can best respond by sharing with you the attached copy of a statement we have recently drafted, elaborating the relevant principles as we see them. We hope that this is of assistance.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
The past two or three decades have seen a growing trend in many countries to re-examine the question of capital punishment. In the view of the Baha'i community this discussion is a development much to be welcomed. It is clear from contemporary reports in the media, together with submissions made by such responsible agencies as Amnesty International, that the way in which civil authorities in a number of countries are using this most serious of punishments can in no way be reconciled with the principles of the United Nations instruments to which the governments of those countries have subscribed. In yet other jurisdictions, disproportionately high percentages of persons representing ethnic minorities among the executed raise disturbing doubts of yet another kind. Nor can one be indifferent to the body of evidence suggesting that, in a great many cases, capital punishment is accompanied by conditions that impose an unnecessary and unacceptable degree of suffering.
It is now generally accepted that society's most powerful instrument in influencing behaviour is education. The same age that is witnessing the inexorable unification of the human race and the emergence of something that may reasonably be termed a universal conscience, also finds itself possessed of an understanding of human nature not available to previous civilizations. For the past several decades the social sciences have made steady progress in exploring the roots of human motivation and in developing educational measures designed to tap this immense resource. If the results still fall far short of the ideals that have impelled the research, this in no way calls into question the potentialities of the educational process nor casts doubt upon the premise that it represents humanity's best hope for a peaceful and orderly world. It reflects merely the human race's continuing attachment to political, racial, and sectarian prejudices that confuse the goals and severely limit the context within which the educational process must seek to do its work.
To continue
http://bahai-library.com/published.uhj/capital.punishment.html
LETTER TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FROM BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL OMMUNITY
Secretary General
Amnesty International
Thank you for advising us of the campaign that Amnesty International is launching on the subject of the death penalty and for your invitation to express the views of the Baha'i International Community. As capital punishment is a subject that is dealt with explicitly in the Baha'i Scriptures, we feel that we can best respond by sharing with you the attached copy of a statement we have recently drafted, elaborating the relevant principles as we see them. We hope that this is of assistance.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
The past two or three decades have seen a growing trend in many countries to re-examine the question of capital punishment. In the view of the Baha'i community this discussion is a development much to be welcomed. It is clear from contemporary reports in the media, together with submissions made by such responsible agencies as Amnesty International, that the way in which civil authorities in a number of countries are using this most serious of punishments can in no way be reconciled with the principles of the United Nations instruments to which the governments of those countries have subscribed. In yet other jurisdictions, disproportionately high percentages of persons representing ethnic minorities among the executed raise disturbing doubts of yet another kind. Nor can one be indifferent to the body of evidence suggesting that, in a great many cases, capital punishment is accompanied by conditions that impose an unnecessary and unacceptable degree of suffering.
It is now generally accepted that society's most powerful instrument in influencing behaviour is education. The same age that is witnessing the inexorable unification of the human race and the emergence of something that may reasonably be termed a universal conscience, also finds itself possessed of an understanding of human nature not available to previous civilizations. For the past several decades the social sciences have made steady progress in exploring the roots of human motivation and in developing educational measures designed to tap this immense resource. If the results still fall far short of the ideals that have impelled the research, this in no way calls into question the potentialities of the educational process nor casts doubt upon the premise that it represents humanity's best hope for a peaceful and orderly world. It reflects merely the human race's continuing attachment to political, racial, and sectarian prejudices that confuse the goals and severely limit the context within which the educational process must seek to do its work.
To continue
http://bahai-library.com/published.uhj/capital.punishment.html
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