The Philosophy and Theology of Eternal Punishment

In my last Philosophy of the Criminal Law lecture this week, my lecturer mentioned that J. S. Mill - perhaps somewhat surprisingly for a political liberal - was actually in favour of capital punishment (at least for certain offences).

In 1868, Mill argued in the British Parliament that life imprisonment was 'less severe indeed in appearance, and therefore less efficacious, but far more cruel in reality' than capital punishment. This got me thinking about the philosophy and theology of eternal punishment.

Without going into the philosophical arguments for and against capital punishment (a kind of eternal punishment), and without going into the theological arguments for and against annihilationism (another kind of eternal punishment - eternal death, not eternal torment), it's interesting to consider how our moral intuitions regarding capital punishment and annihilationism might be related.

For the record, I believe that capital punishment is philosophically defensible. I also believe that annihilationism is theologically defensible. Indeed, I believe that capital punishment is philosophically defensible precisely because I believe that annihilationism is theologically defensible.

To be sure, I'm not saying that we should necessarily support the case for capital punishment. I'm also not saying that we should necessarily support the case for annihilationism.

However, it seems to me that if capital punishment is more consistent with the sanctity of life than life imprisonment, then annihilationism is more consistent with the sanctity of life (and hence the nature of God) than eternal torment. Conversely, if eternal torment is more consistent with the sanctity of life (and hence the nature of God) than annihilationism, then life imprisonment is more consistent with the sanctity of life than capital punishment.

In other words, if we support the case for capital punishment, then we should reject the case for eternal torment. On the other hand, if we support the case for eternal torment, then we should reject the case for capital punishment.

Links: The Case for Annihilationism (31 Aug 10), Tetelestai (10 Sep 10), Life, Death and Destiny (22 Jan 11)