Comment & Debate
Thomas R. Eddlem. “Ten anti-death penalty fallacies”. The New American. June 3, 2002 – “it is not true that most supporters of capital punishment seek to take everything from the murderers. Thomas Aquinas noted in his Summa Theologica that “if a man be dangerous and infectious to the community, on account of some sin, it is praiseworthy and advantageous that he be killed in order to safeguard the common good.” The death penalty for murderers, the Catholic Church’s most famous theologian argued, was a form of retributive punishment. He explained that this “punishment may be considered as a medicine, not only healing the past sin, but also preserving from future sin.” Though life may be taken from a murderer, he will be better off with the punishment because “spiritual goods are of the greatest consequence, while temporal goods are least important.””