As the Jamaican Parliament prepares for its 'conscience vote' on whether the application of the death penalty should resume in Jamaica, today is marked as the International Day against the Death Penalty. I have always been amused at the expression 'conscience vote'. In the Westminster system there is a functionary called the 'Party Whip' who applies discipline to ensure that party MPs vote the way the party wants (for or against bills, resolutions, etc.) When there is a 'conscience vote' the Party Whip takes a break and allows the MPs to vote according to their consciences.

Is it, therefore, implied that when the Party Whip is at work, many MPs vote against the dictates of their consciences? It is Christian teaching that to go against the urgings of one's conscience is to sin. What does this say about our Parliament?

Poor family life

Although we are all born with consciences, we do not receive them fully formed. One of the most important tasks of parents is to form the consciences of their children, to teach them right from wrong. Poor family life can lead to flawed consciences, to children insensitive to other people's feelings, to selfish children, to violent children. As we mature it becomes our responsibility to form our own consciences, and the task is a lifelong one. New ethical issues arise with changes in technology, and modern people will find that the prescripts of the Ten Commandments given on Mount Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount do not directly address every moral dilemma. Whatever our parents taught us - whether by their presence or absence - each of us has the duty to keep our consciences sensitive and alive.

Corporal punishment and the death penalty are conscience issues, and so many Jamaicans believe in the value of flogging and hanging. This has to do with the fact that so many of us were flogged as children. I suppose we believe that if it was good enough for us it is good enough for our children. Because so many of us were brutalised as children, that does not mean that we must brutalise our children in return. Jamaican children learn violence at an early age, and grow up believing in violence. We have to break the cycle of violence in Jamaica, and it must begin with how we treat our children.

Flogging

I have heard supposedly Christian ministers of religion try to defend flogging and the death penalty using the Bible, usually quoting texts from the Old Testament, the account of the Old Covenant, to support their argument. Jesus, who Christians profess to follow, entered into a New Covenant with humanity which is written about in the New Testament. So many persons, usually of the fundamentalist persuasion, treat Old Covenant prescriptions with the same regard as New Covenant ones, ignoring the transition between the Old Law and the New Law which has taken place, which requires a change of mindset. "You have heard it said 'an eye for an eye', but I say to you 'Love your enemies'." Notice the big 'but'. That changes it!

To try to justify capital punishment on the grounds that the Bible says "an eye for an eye" is not a Christian argument. In one famous incident Jesus confronted a bunch of men about to legally administer the death penalty to a woman validly convicted of adultery, by stoning her to death. He worked it out so that it didn't happen! In fundamentalist Jamaica, too many so-called 'Christians' are still sons and daughters of the Old Covenant; they would make sure that it happened. The Good News of the Gospel still needs to be preached in this land.

In the meantime, the state of Israel, the guardian of the Old Covenant, abolished the death penalty decades ago. Our fundamentalist 'Christians' are more 'Jewish' than the Jews!

In the world today most countries have abolished the death penalty; last year (2007) only 24 countries actually executed anyone. You can know the character of someone by the company they keep, and this goes for countries as well.

Motley crew

If Jamaica resumes hanging this is the motley crew we will be joining: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, USA, Vietnam and Yemen. Communist China had the most executions in 2007, admitting to 470, but some sources say the real number may be as high as 5,000. Next on the list of capital punishers were three Islamic countries who follow Shariah law: Iran (317), Saudi Arabia (143) and Pakistan (135). The USA came next, having executed 42 people in 2007.

I call on my fellow Jamaicans - especially those who want to follow Jesus - to properly form their consciences. And I call upon our MPs to vote to abolish the death penalty in Jamaica. Let us break the cycle of violence and take Jamaica into the civilised world.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon.