Capital punishment

Whether civil government may execute murderers (Genesis 9:6, Romans 13:4). Traditional view: the state bears the sword and capital punishment is a legitimate civil sanction for grave crimes. Catholic teaching has narrowed in recent decades (Evangelium Vitae, then more sharply under Francis) to a near-prohibition; many mainline Protestants oppose it. Evangelical and Reformed Protestants are typically permissive. "Affirms" = traditional permissive view; "denies" = abolitionist view. Look for explicit church statements on the death penalty.

This doctrine distinguishes traditions but is not a boundary of orthodoxy.