The National Association of Evangelicals has excited anti-death penalty activists by abandoning its previous unequivocal support for capital punishment in favor of citing Evangelicals on both sides. A recent poll says 71% of white Evangelicals, who comprise the vast majority of NAE’s constituency, support capital punishment, the strongest margin in any major religious group.
“We affirm the conscientious commitment of both streams of Christian ethical thought,” the recent NAE resolution declared. NAE chief Leith Anderson reported the board’s vote, reputedly after 5 years of discussion within NAE, was unanimous. Although claiming NAE can now “present a cross-section of evangelical views,” clearly NAE’s drift and intent is towards critique of capital punishment. Anderson predicted: “When issues come up, we will speak up and say that there are inequities in terms of race and class and ZIP codes.”
Read Full Article »