Personal belief versus universal truth: Religion rhetoric in death penalty policy debates in the United States

Figures & data

Table 1. Religious theme use logistic regression.

	B	S.E.	Wald	Odds Ratio
Position on Death Penalty (Support)	.58	.38	1.03
Party (Republican)	.78	.57	.01
Race (White)	.77		.01
Lawyer	−1.27*	.521	6.41	.28
State (Connecticut)	.49	1.13	.25
State (Nebraska)	2.70*	1.11	5.91	1.61
Religion (Catholic)	.79*	.39	3.51	2.20
Religion (No Public Religion)	.26	.49	.40
Margin of Victory	.01	.01	1.67
Constant	−7.20*	1.79	9.52

N = 442.

Chi-Square 43.0.

Psuedo-r2 = .120.

*p < .05.

Table 2. Use of universal/immutable religious frames logistic regression.

	B	S.E.	Wald	Odds Ratio
Position on Death Penalty (Support)	40.50**	13.38	8.89	5.21
Party (Republican)	17.47	22.81	.54
Race (White)	16.52	22.02	.54
Lawyer	−15.92	9.23	1.96
State (Connecticut)	20.22	24.86	.17
State (Nebraska)	−.73	.74	.88
Religion (Catholic)	−18.27	11.69	2.42
Religion (No Public Religion)	−17.36	18.54	.87
Margin of Victory	−.04	.04	1.42
Constant	−96.78	115.18

N = 50.

Chi-Square = 38.3.

Psuedo-r2 = .661.

**p < .01.

Table

Speaker	Connecticut State Senator John McKinney	Illinois State Senator William Haine
Quote	So these are very difficult issues. I happen to believe as a person of faith that someone upstairs is going to sort all those things out and I’m just here to do the best I can. But I think, on balance, and I certainly would say it’s an extremely close call, Mr. President, on balance, I think our death penalty works in the State of Connecticut.	I have just a few points to make. One concerns the reference to the clerics, one of which is my own ordinary, who’ve signed a letter against the death penalty. That is their considered opinion. It is not now and it never has been, so far as I know as a communicant of the Catholic faith, the teaching of the church that capital punishment is immoral per se. Euthanasia, abortion, contraception, that’s immoral per se—not the imposition of the penalty of death in certain circumstances. That is reserved to the prudential judgement of the officers of the State, assuming the State is lawfully constituted and is not lawless in itself, such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and others.
Coder’s Logic	McKinney says this is a difficult issue (not clear cut) McKinney suggests that he can offer just one person’s view of what to do, and does not suggest that religion offers a direct answer to the death penalty question.	Haine directly states that religious thinking on the death penalty is a matter of personal opinion not settled religious doctrine. He further adds that the issue should be decided by the individual judgement of office holders.

Table

Speaker	Nebraska State Senator Lydia Brasch	Nebraska State Senator Mike Groene
Quote	We need to talk to God. Faith is just. There are scriptures that give government the authority to execute those who would commit horrific unquestionable crimes … There is no joy. There is no glory. It’s protection of innocent life, innocent from conception to innocent upon natural death.	I must inject in this decision the word of God because that is how I lead my life for the short time, the wink of an eye of time that I live here. Eternity is important to me. In Exodus Chapter 20, we are given the laws which we are to obey as individuals. Do not kill is one of those. Even the atheists among us know those ten rules to be good rules. But the very next chapter gives us rules for society, for a civilized society, for the collective. As an elected official, my duty is not to represent myself but the collective, the collective of the citizens of a civilized society. If one protects one’s life, it is self-defense. If one takes a life, it is murder. If one kills for retribution, it is vengeance. But when the collective society takes a life in the punishment of evil behavior, it is called justice.
Coder’s Logic	Brasch speaks in directives—We need to talk to God. Brasch directly states that scriptures support the death penalty and promulgates an absolute overarching policy based on scripture.	Groene suggest policy comes from God —I must inject the word of God. Groene directly ties scripture to establishing a need for the death penalty and leaves no room for those of other faiths to disagree—even the Atheists know.