By Chelsen Vicari, Juicy Ecumenism.
Sarah Pulliam Bailey of The Washington Post breaks news of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) departure from the organization’s 1973 resolution in support of capital punishment:
The board of directors of the National Association of Evangelicals approved a resolution that changes its 1973 resolution that favored the death penalty, the group announced on Monday.
While the new resolution, which is now the standing policy of the NAE, does not reverse its earlier position, it acknowledges evangelicals who oppose the death penalty.
The NAE, which is comprised of 40 different evangelical denominations, issued a public statement on Monday acknowledging the wide spectrum on which evangelicals position themselves when debating capital punishment. The new standing resolution acknowledged that evangelicals’ varying viewpoints are well-entrenched in biblical and ethical reasoning, and therefore, deserve affirmation and representation.