Texas Baptist group opposes death penalty

DALLAS — The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission has joined the call for a moratorium on the death penalty.

The commission, which is the moral concerns and public policy agency of the 4 million-member Baptist General Convention of Texas, also agreed to support legislation that would allow Texas juries to choose life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty.

Since 1976, Texas has carried out about one third of the executions in the United States.  Last year, 33 of the 71 executions in the country were performed in Texas.

The agency approved an extensive report examining capital punishment from biblical, historical and social justice perspectives. The report concludes “in the final analysis, biblical teaching does not support capital punishment as it is practiced in contemporary society.”