Why do so many atheists oppose the death penalty...

[K9Buck]

...for people who have committed murder and who can never be released back into public? Since the murderer is usurping resources from the community, why not just execute the murderer so that resources are expended on those that contribute to society?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Atheists tend to be LIbErals, and LIbErals tend to be on the side of criminals, against that of law-abiding citizens.

To be opposed to putting the very worst of criminals to death would be entirely consistent with this position.

 

[TheOldSchool]

...for people who have committed murder and who can never be released back into public? Since the murderer is usurping resources from the community, why not just execute the murderer so that resources are expended on those that contribute to society?

Plenty of atheists believe in the death penalty. Just as many religious folks reject it.

/thread

 

[K9Buck]

Plenty of atheists believe in the death penalty. Just as many religious folks reject it. /thread

Which doesn't address the point of my question.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Plenty of atheists believe in the death penalty. Just as many religious folks reject it. /thread

Which doesn't address the point of my question.

It makes your question redundant, because you could easily as why so many religious people oppose the death penalty.

 

[K9Buck]

It makes your question redundant, because you could easily as why so many religious people oppose the death penalty.

I know why believers oppose it, I'm curious why atheists do. You're an atheist, right? Do you support the death penalty?

 

[Mr Natural]

I don’t oppose it.

 

[TheOldSchool]

It makes your question redundant, because you could easily as why so many religious people oppose the death penalty.

I know why believers oppose it, I'm curious why atheists do. You're an atheist, right? Do you support the death penalty?

Oh you’re operating under the assumption that there’s no morality without religion. So like, would you be running around murdering and raping people if your religion didn’t tell you that was bad?

 

[WinterBorn]

I oppose the death penalty. I think killing someone is wrong, unless it is in self defense or defnse of another life.

And given the number of sentences that have been reversed, the amount of corruption in the justice system and the unreliable nature of the typical witness, I don't believe you can be 100% sure you got the right person.

And I am not a liberal.

 

[BULLDOG]

I'm not an atheist, but an agnostic. I don't have a problem with frying the bastards if you are positive he is guilty. However, I oppose killing an innocent person just to find you killed the wrong guy. The murderer is then still free and an innocent man is executed. That has happened too many times, and will continue to happen as long as our criminal justice system works the way it does. I have no idea how to correct the problem, but I know the chance of killing another innocent victim is a chance I don't want to take..

 

[jillian]

...for people who have committed murder and who can never be released back into public? Since the murderer is usurping resources from the community, why not just execute the murderer so that resources are expended on those that contribute to society?

why do you assume that people who oppose the death penalty are largely atheists. most catholics are opposed to the death penalty.

why on earth do you think christianity means you should kill people? I'm pretty sure that is nothing that Jesus would have approved of.

also, the death penalty isn imposed disparately depending on color of skin.

and there are hundreds of instances where people sentenced/put to death are found not to be guilty.

 

[K9Buck]

It makes your question redundant, because you could easily as why so many religious people oppose the death penalty.

I know why believers oppose it, I'm curious why atheists do. You're an atheist, right? Do you support the death penalty?

Oh you’re operating under the assumption that there’s no morality without religion. So like, would you be running around murdering and raping people if your religion didn’t tell you that was bad?

You apparently have an aversion to answering simple questions.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

The question seems odd... as if atheists are informed in all moral choices by atheism, or something.

I think it is you theists who confuse yourselves, because you live under the assumption (or pretend to do so on Sundays) that your theism informs everything you believe. Maybe it does, good for you. When you confuse yourself is to think atheists spend any amount of time thinking about atheism that even approaches the amount of time you spend thinking about theism. Most atheists just simply don't think or care about the concepts of theism or atheism at all, when forming their beliefs. So this atheism no more informs their view of the death penalty than does their opinion of 14th century poetry (that they also do not give a shit about or spend any effort on).

How man times did you think about Jesus today? Take that number, and that is right about how many more times you thought about Jesus today than an atheist thought about atheism today, on the average. That's kind of the thing with the default state of "non-belief".

For a comparison you can "feel", consider the number of times you thought about believing or not believing in unicorns today, and how this informed your decisions and beliefs.

 

[Lysistrata]

This OP asks a stupid question. Nobody can tell whether someone is an atheist, agnostic, or theist of some sort. One could just as well post the question of why so many people who declare themselves as believing in a supreme being support the death penalty.

The way the term "atheist" is slung around these days, you'd think that people walked around with signs declaring their thoughts on the subject. It appears to be an attempt at insult used by jackasses from certain cults who declare themselves, and only themselves, to be "believers."

 

[K9Buck]

This OP asks a stupid question. Nobody can tell whether someone is an atheist, agnostic, or theist of some sort. One could just as well post the question of why so many people who declare themselves as believing in a supreme being support the death penalty.

The way the term "atheist" is slung around these days, you'd think that people walked around with signs declaring their thoughts on the subject. It appears to be an attempt at insult used by jackasses from certain cults who declare themselves, and only themselves, to be "believers."

I guess discussing ethics is over your head. I won't be reading any more of your drivel as I'm putting you on ignore.

 

[ding]

It makes your question redundant, because you could easily as why so many religious people oppose the death penalty.

I know why believers oppose it, I'm curious why atheists do. You're an atheist, right? Do you support the death penalty?

Oh you’re operating under the assumption that there’s no morality without religion. So like, would you be running around murdering and raping people if your religion didn’t tell you that was bad?

The moral law is written into the hearts of men, even godless atheists.

 

[ding]

This OP asks a stupid question. Nobody can tell whether someone is an atheist, agnostic, or theist of some sort. One could just as well post the question of why so many people who declare themselves as believing in a supreme being support the death penalty.

The way the term "atheist" is slung around these days, you'd think that people walked around with signs declaring their thoughts on the subject. It appears to be an attempt at insult used by jackasses from certain cults who declare themselves, and only themselves, to be "believers."

You mean except for the fact that atheists tend to be leftists?

 

[ding]

The question seems odd... as if atheists are informed in all moral choices by atheism, or something.

I think it is you theists who confuse yourselves, because you live under the assumption (or pretend to do so on Sundays) that your theism informs everything you believe. Maybe it does, good for you. When you confuse yourself is to think atheists spend any amount of time thinking about atheism that even approaches the amount of time you spend thinking about theism. Most atheists just simply don't think or care about the concepts of theism or atheism at all, when forming their beliefs. So this atheism no more informs their view of the death penalty than does their opinion of 14th century poetry (that they also do not give a shit about or spend any effort on).

How man times did you think about Jesus today? Take that number, and that is right about how many more times you thought about Jesus today than an atheist thought about atheism today, on the average. That's kind of the thing with the default state of "non-belief".

For a comparison you can "feel", consider the number of times you thought about believing or not believing in unicorns today, and how this informed your decisions and beliefs.

Says the militant atheist posting in a religious forum.

 

[Lysistrata]

This OP asks a stupid question. Nobody can tell whether someone is an atheist, agnostic, or theist of some sort. One could just as well post the question of why so many people who declare themselves as believing in a supreme being support the death penalty.

The way the term "atheist" is slung around these days, you'd think that people walked around with signs declaring their thoughts on the subject. It appears to be an attempt at insult used by jackasses from certain cults who declare themselves, and only themselves, to be "believers."

I guess discussing ethics is over your head. I won't be reading any more of your drivel as I'm putting you on ignore.

Poor, thin-skinned you. Can't participate in a discussion. You were the one who brought up the subject. Your attempt to link a belief in a supreme being, or lack of it, with an individual's views on the death penalty is foolhardy to begin with. The question that you posed necessarily implicates views from all across the spectrum of belief, from no belief, to every type of belief in a supreme being in the context of ethics relating to the death penalty.

 

[Lysistrata]

This OP asks a stupid question. Nobody can tell whether someone is an atheist, agnostic, or theist of some sort. One could just as well post the question of why so many people who declare themselves as believing in a supreme being support the death penalty.

The way the term "atheist" is slung around these days, you'd think that people walked around with signs declaring their thoughts on the subject. It appears to be an attempt at insult used by jackasses from certain cults who declare themselves, and only themselves, to be "believers."

You mean except for the fact that atheists tend to be leftists?

You continue to conflate religion and policy/political questions. You can have no idea what the religious views are of people whom you describe as "leftists," as if this term is somehow dirty. Many people who are Christian, Jewish, and Muslim also oppose the death penalty, as well as adherents of other religions.

I still can't figure out how you determine who is an atheist, an agnostic, or a believer.