Religion
Related: About this forumPoll: Younger Christians less supportive of the death penalty
Jonathan Merritt
(RNS) One day after the state of Ohio executed a man for murder (Jan. 16), a new poll shows younger Christians are not as supportive of the death penalty as older members of their faith.
When asked if they agreed that the government should have the option to execute the worst criminals, 42 percent of self-identified Christian boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, said yes. Only 32 percent of self-identified Christian millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, said the same thing.
The poll conducted by Barna Group this past summer and released to Religion News Service Friday, surveyed 1,000 American adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
It showed an even sharper difference in support for the death penalty among practicing Christians, which Barna defined as those who say faith is very important to their lives and have attended church at least once in the last month. Nearly half of practicing Christian boomers support the governments right to execute the worst criminals, while only 23 percent of practicing Christian millennials
http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/17/among-us-christians-declining-support-death-penalty/
cbayer
(146,218 posts)And I think this may be indicative of another lean to the left by christians in the US.
At least I can hope so.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I am hopeful Christians are moving left.
LostOne4Ever
(9,289 posts)Isn't support for the Death Penalty way way higher than this poll is showing?
According to Gallup while its support is falling its currently around 60%
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1606/Death-Penalty.aspx
That is a LOT HIGHER than 2.6% margin of error.
The death penalty is one of those issues most anti-death penalty dems wont touch with a 50 foot and 1/2 long pole. If the support for it was this low it would be one of the hotbutton debates we have.
I would love to see support for the DP fall this low but I something here is not adding up.