Roll out the gurneys. The feds are starting executions again!


You gotta hand it to the Catholic Church.

Led by fearless fighters like Sister Helen Prejean, the church has adopted this position:

The Catholic Church teaches that the death penalty is "inadmissible" in all cases because it is an "attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person." (CCC 2267)

Meanwhile, so-called evangelical Christians on the Protestant side can’t seem to get their act together on the important issue of capital punishment. We love to talk about being “pro-life,” but that seems to focus a lot more on the beginning, rather than the end, of life.

My own denomination, The Christian Reformed Church of North America, whose doctrines I believe and support, continues to waffle on the subject of the death penalty.

Now, federal executions are about to get started again. What a shame!

As if there aren’t enough nasty things claiming lives.

-According to the Center for Disease Control, the coronavirus death toll in the United States could hit 150,00 by the end of next month!
-So far this year, there have been 170 mass shootings in our country, resulting in more than 160 deaths!
-Drug overdoses are killing people by the thousands! More than 750,000 Americans died from drug overdoses from 1999 to 2018!

Still, with everything our country is going through, our nation’s leaders seem hell-bent on taking more lives. The government is attempting to restart the practice of executions for the first time in 17 years. On June 15, the U.S. Department of Justice scheduled three federal executions to take place over a five-day span beginning July 13. A fourth execution is scheduled for the end of August. The legality of the federal government's execution protocol is still being contested.

A movement within the Catholic Church is calling on all of us to “proclaim on the housetops the dignity of all human life, no matter the harm one has caused or suffered.” Catholic Mobilizing Network is joining with other faith traditions across the country in urging a stop to federal executions. And you can take part.

CMN asks us to go to their web site and sign this joint statement:

"As faith leaders from a diverse range of traditions, we call on President Trump and Attorney General Barr to stop the scheduled federal executions. As our country grapples with the COVID 19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and systemic racism in the criminal legal system, we should be focused on protecting and preserving life, not carrying out executions."

I’ve signed it. I’m asking you to sign it.

As the Catholics say,

We cannot build a culture of life with a federal government that puts people to death.

Comments

Bob Bulten said…
I’ve signed the pledge

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