Where were the bishops when Troy Davis died?

[kpete]

SUN FEB 19, 2012 AT 10:00 AM PST
Where were the bishops when Troy Davis died?
byDante Atkins

Not all doctrine is created equal.

On September 21, 2011, a man's life ended. His death was not natural; it was not a product of anyone's god; rather, the drug cocktails that caused the heart of Troy Davis to stop beating were purely the result of human artifice.

Davis was a convicted murderer who was put to death by the State of Georgia as punishment for the crimes of which he was found guilty. Like so many other death row inmates who were wrongly convicted of—and sometimes even executed for—crimes they did not commit, Troy Davis may well have been innocent. There was no physical evidence proving his crime, and many of the eywitnesses upon whom Davis' conviction depended later recanted their testimony, citing undue pressure from prosecutors to finger the person they had apparently already decided was responsible. In the end, however, whether or not Troy Davis was guilty or not is merely salt in the wound of a far bigger outrage.

The Catholic Church officially opposes capital punishment. This doctrine is in the same vein as those opposing abortion, birth control, and physician-assisted suicide: church doctrine dictates that life begins at conception and is a gift from God. Consequently, it is beyond the scope of any soul, no matter how high the earthly authority, to terminate a human life. It does not matter if it is legal, and it does not matter if the rationale is to relieve suffering: the taking of life is God's department, not ours.

Yet in the middle of September, as opposition to the impending execution of Troy Davis reached a fever pitch and a singular opportunity presented itself for the Church to not just call for an act of mercy, but support a key element of doctrine, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was silent as the grave. Yes, some local Catholic bishops in Georgia did support the conscience of their doctrine by calling for a reprieve, but the USCCB, the organization most responsible for lobbying and policy advocacy on behalf of the Holy See here in the United States, sat idly by. The execution of a possibly innocent man was not enough to stir the bishops into action. But birth control? That's a different story altogether.

MORE:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/19/1066067/-Where-were-the-bishops-when-Troy-Davis-died-?via=blog_1

[Angry Dragon]

1. Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer from them

[Bluerthanblue]

2. this is an important question-

I read an article yesterday that talked about several other places where the bishops don't seem to have any power or effect at influencing what they supposedly teach and believe.

From minimum wage, to waging pre-emptive war, to welfare for needy families. The right to work, to be paid fairly and unionize, the treatment of immigrants, the occupation of Palestine...

link to the article if you're interested
http://www.alternet.org/story/154122/10_catholic_teachings_conservatives_reject_while_obsessing_about_birth_control/

[Londoncalling]

3. I am a Catholic from outside America and

I know of very few Catholics that support the death penalty in the UK or the rest of Europe. It seems that Americans always find a way to support the Death Penalty, even when you quote them the words of this Pope and JPII. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/angel/procon/popestate.html

I don't know what is wrong with your bishops other than the media is selective about what they will report....
http://old.usccb.org/deathpenalty/
http://www.cacp.org/vaticandocuments.html
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-benedict-end-the-death-penalty/
If you look at the comments of below the last link you will see that the problem is American Catholic refuse to listen to things they don't want to hear. The vast majority of Catholic countries to not have the death penalty at all. It is just America and American Catholics that insist that it is right and just. The right wing Catholic also ignore teaching on environmental issues, social justice and what The Pope said to Bankers recently too..http://www.catholic.org/business/story.php?id=44025
. Outside of America Pro-Life does mean no death penalty and not supporting the war in Iraq. There are good liberal catholics in America that believe that too Martin Sheen and Stephen Colbert amoung them.

[Blue_Tires]

5. +1

[RainDog]

4. k&r n/t

[bulloney]

6. The bishops were silent because capital punishment is not as "pure" of a Repub issue as abortion.

Things like capital punishment and warmongering don't cut down partisan lines like abortion. And the RCC exploits this to shame their flocks into voting Republican every election. You can almost set your calendar to it. Any time we're within a year of a national election, the priests come out and pound the podium against abortion and tell you why you don't vote for "certain" candidates (Democrats). Meanwhile, Right to Lifers stick their flyers with their endorsed candidates on your windshields while mass is taking place. And the endorsed candidates are all Republican.

I always thought the RCC was against capital punishment and the wars we've recently waged, support economic justice and the like. But you rarely hear those issues addressed during mass and never hear them addressed with the fire and brimstone tone that abortion gets during an election year.

The RCC hierarchy is run by a bunch of extreme RW Republicans. Simple as that.

[_ed_]

7. They were too busy paying out billions of dollars

to the child victims that they were raping.