Coragarry Free Presbyterian Church
Rev. Gordon Dane
Rose Cottage
Drum
Co. Monaghan
Tel 049 5552660
Statement on Death Penalty
While we do not arrogate to ourselves the right to tell people how they should vote, the referenda which take place on 7 June do stray into the area of morality which is the concern of any church. The Free Presbyterian Church in the Irish Republic would therefore urge the people to vote no to the twenty-first amendment to the constitution which seeks to do away with any possibility of the death penalty. The Bible, which can be our only authority in matters of conscience tells us in Romans 13:3 that rulers are to be a terror to those who do evil and the Bible also advocates capital punishment for capital crime. Indeed the very establishment of civil rule upon earth, which is described in Genesis 9 is associated with the death penalty where it says "whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed". In the sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus advocated that if someone smite you on the right cheek you should turn the left but this was to be the response of an individual not to the obligation of the State. The obligation of a state is different from an individual and the Bible is clear that the death penalty is to be used by governments. It also advocates a high degree of evidential certainty when that penalty is used but the death penalty should be available for a state to use. Those advocating the abolition of any possibility of bringing back the death penalty do so on moral grounds but since such a course is against the teaching of God's Word it is by definition a highly immoral to do so.
The Free Presbyterian Church would also urge people to vote no to the twenty-fourth amendment to the constitution. The Bible prophesies that in the end time the kingdom of Antichrist will arise which be based on the territory old Roman Empire. We believe that the European Union is the embryo of that kingdom and therefore oppose it on theological grounds.