Guess how conservatives are retreating now

I've been writing frequently about the way the conservative movement's movement is mostly backward.

I've pointed out how conservatives are positioning themselves to cave in on same-sex marriage – even while a vast majority of Americans stand firmly in favor of preserving marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

Here's another issue where Americans overwhelmingly support the conservative position, but some of the biggest names in the conservative movement are retreating to ground more familiar to the American Civil Liberties Union.

I'm talking about capital punishment and a new effort by stalwarts of the conservative movement to end it.

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For the record, let me say that I have nothing but respect and admiration for the two principals of the movement leading the surrender on this issue. They are responsible people. They are genuinely conservative. They are good Americans. They are sincere. They are people of faith and values. They are my friends. But they are dead wrong about capital punishment.

In an op-ed piece in the Richmond Times Dispatch of Virginia, Richard Viguerie and Brent Bozell this week officially waved the white flag on the death penalty.

They declared capital punishment "no longer necessary" and unsupported by biblical principles.

It's no longer necessary, they say, because we can lock up dangerous criminals for life without possibility of parole in maximum-security prisons. How such an existence is considered more humane or more just escapes me. But what about the Bible?

"The Old Testament required the death penalty for certain sins and a litany of offenses," explain the conservative activists and leaders. "In John 8 of the New Testament, the Pharisees confronted Jesus about a woman ready to be stoned for adultery. Jesus, sensing a trap they laid on a conflict between the Old Testament and Roman law, said: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. We believe John 8 of the New Testament shows that Jesus did not consider the death penalty mandatory punishment for sins, and certainly not unless the process complied with God's law. Deuteronomy 17:6 requires more than one witness to convict."

In other words, Jesus did something He explicitly said He was not doing – overturning the law.

In Matthew 5:18, Jesus says: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

There is no contradiction between the New Testament and the Old Testament. The law remains the law. Paul, often seen by Christians as suggesting the law was nailed to the cross, explicitly states otherwise in Romans 3:31: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

Furthermore, capital punishment was meted out in the New Testament by Peter in Acts 5.

It's expensive, say Bozell and Viguerie. They also say it's imperfect. Of course, the same arguments can be made about incarceration for life – in fact, all criminal justice.

Bozell and Viguerie also suggest there is no clear evidence capital punishment is a deterrent against murder. Maybe there is no clear and compelling evidence based on the contemporary use of the death penalty in the U.S. today, where capital punishment is used sparingly, to say the least. But the Bible says otherwise – and I choose to believe the Bible.

Deuteronomy 19:19-21 says: "Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." (Italics added for emphasis.)

The Bible clearly states deterrence is the reason for the ultimate penalty.

Conservatism is about preserving standards. It's not about changing standards. It's not about revising standards. It's not about evolving standards. The death penalty is supported by Scripture and supported overwhelmingly by the people of the United States. Why are conservatives retreating now?