For those who, like me, turn to the Bible for our guiding principles, it is clear that God’s justice is wrapped up in mercy. The oft-cited reference to “an eye for an eye” should not be read as support for revenge. Rather, it acts as a limit and not a license on violence, reminding us to turn away from – really, to de-escalate – violence and evil, not meet it in kind.
Moreover, in the New Testament, Jesus himself embodies this merciful justice. Jesus in fact interrupted an execution and stopped it, by saying, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7). Jesus implores us not to return harm for harm or to mirror the evil we encounter. Indeed, how many of us were taught by our parents that “two wrongs don’t make a right”? And how many of us have been blessed by the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of others when we have fallen short?
I have no doubt that were Jesus among us today, he would recoil from America’s system of capital punishment. Certainly, there are many problems with its administration and application, particularly its racially biased, arbitrary, and torturous application. Even the U.S. Supreme Court noted this as it temporarily halted executions in the 1970s. But beyond those flaws, there is the simple reality that the death penalty perpetuates violence and extends trauma, where we as Christians are called to help and heal.
I therefore urge President Joe Biden to take an important step towards making us a more just and merciful country by commuting all forty federal death sentences before he leaves office. I join the thousands of people of faith and conscience who are asking President Biden to “abolish and demolish.” Commute the federal death sentences and demolish the execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana. Let’s stand up for life and be done with the idea that we can kill to show that killing is wrong.
The Bible gives us many examples of mercy for those who have killed. God does not slay Cain, the first murderer. Rather, Cain is exiled from his family and his people, but in God’s mercy, he opens a path to redemption for Cain. God also grants mercy and a second chance to Moses, David, Paul, and others who killed. If we believe someone who has murdered another person is beyond redemption, we could rip out half of the Bible. Much of it was written by murderers who were given a second chance. The Bible would be much shorter without grace.
In urging clemency for those on federal death row, I do not downplay or deny the pain they have caused. Nor do I believe there should be no accountability. I have spent many hours in prayer and conversation with those who have lost loved ones to homicide. They have taught me that questioning the death penalty is not being soft on crime.
Nor is granting clemency the equivalent of “forgive and forget.” No one who has lost a loved one to violence will ever forget. But by refusing to perpetuate violence and create new victims, the act of grace allows us to focus on honoring those we have lost and healing our hearts and souls.
President Biden is a religious man. We are inviting him to lean into the best of his faith tradition and trust that those who show mercy will themselves be shown mercy. I expect that he, like many of us, is driven by his faith to believe that we can do better than the hatred and visceral desire for revenge that inevitably follows violence. Jesus shows us in his words and actions, chiefly in his death by execution, that we cannot meet violence with more violence. The hate, anger, and longing for revenge that lie at the heart of the death penalty harm us just as much as the crime that ignited those feelings. Grace and mercy move us toward faith, hope, and love.
No one is beyond redemption. Ending the death penalty is our way of saying “YES” to a belief that God can change and redeem someone. We know that God desires to heal the wounds of sin and evil in the world, and that Jesus holds open the door to redemption for all.
The Good News is that Jesus saves sinners, not just the righteous – as he said: “I have come not for the healthy but for the sick” (Mark 2:17). With that abiding principle before me, I believe that President Biden must exercise his own power of mercy by commuting all federal death sentences before he leaves office in January 2025. That will ensure that God’s grace has the last word.
Please also see: Faith Leaders, Activists, the Pope Urge Biden to Empty Federal Death Row Before Trump Term
Shane Claiborne is the author of Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It’s Killing Us. He is an activist and founder of The Simple Way.
