Dear Editor,

Your publication on May 25, 2016, of my comments on Professor Stephen Vasciannie’s article, ‘The death penalty and its impediments’, appearing in Sunday, May 15 issue of this paper, has drawn numerous reactions to my opinions, particularly those relating to the biblical teaching on the subject.

One undeniably strong response is that of a friend who is on the side of abolition. He made reference to the case of Cain, who slew his brother Abel, but who was exempted from the penalty of death. This would seem to give support to the view that capital punishment was not God intention from the beginning, by virtue of the fact that He seemed to have commuted the sentence of death (Genesis 4: 15).

However, this seemingly plausible argument does not satisfactorily resolve the issue of refusal of the State to provide cities of refuge for a murderer — a strong Old Testament point in favour of the retributive justice. In fact, God’s own words, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground,” (Genesis 4: 10), tacitly justifies it. So, does His words, “If anyone slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold,” including Cain’s own words, “Whoever finds me will slay me” (Genesis 4: 14).

In the face of these biblical evidences, therefore, the case of Cain should be regarded as an “exemption” to the rule of law, and not the rule.

I trust this response to pro-abolition proponents who use this biblical incident to buttress their argument now have a better understanding of this case.

Dennis McKoy

Adjunct Lecturer

Mico University College

Kingston 5

mckoydennis29@gmail.com