By Jeff Brumley It’s been hard for some to fathom how a condemned prisoner earned a certificate in theology while on Georgia’s death row. Even one of those who taught Kelly Gissendaner says it’s amazing that she could write papers…
Moderate Baptists rise to aid of woman on death row in Georgia
By Bob Allen Update: Kelly Renee Gissendaner’s execution was postponed Monday night when officials cited problems with the drug that would be used for the lethal injection. Officials are waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to either grant or deny…
Killing Kelly: An open letter to Georgia’s Christian citizens
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Dear Georgia’s Christian Citizens: Unless something dramatic changes, tonight, March 2, your employees in the Georgia prison system, enforcing your laws, paid by your tax dollars, will take a Christian woman named Kelly Gissendaner…
Baptist leaders join plea to spare mentally ill man on death row
By Bob Allen More than 50 evangelical Christian leaders from Texas and across the country wrote an open letter Nov. 12 seeking clemency for a mentally ill inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 3 in Texas. Faith leaders…
Leviticus, abomination and Jesus: The LGBT issue, part 10
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Not long ago I received a communication from a person identifying himself as John Calvin, quoting Leviticus 20:13 to me, suggesting that this text resolves the LGBT issue. Dr. Calvin’s concern was already on…
Minister on death row surprised by only one thing: fellow Baptists’ support for capital punishment
By Ken Camp In the six years Dorothy Ruelas has visited death-row inmates at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas, only one thing shocked her. “I was surprised and shocked to find out most Baptists support the…
Al Mohler, Jesus and the death penalty debate
Would Jesus support the death penalty? Mother Theresa posed the question to the Governor of California in 1990. She was pretty sure he knew the answer. According to a recent Barna poll: Only 5 percent of Americans believe that Jesus…
The death penalty system is broken
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Oftentimes Christians deal with contemporary moral issues in the abstract. They are “against abortion” or “for peace” or “against divorce” in the abstract. They attempt to reason directly from what they understand to be…
Rethinking the death penalty
The death penalty is at the forefront of our news cycles once again. First the Tennessee legislature, due to a shortage of the standard execution drug, approved the return of the electric chair. Then, while experimenting with a new drug combination,…
SBC leader says Christians should support death penalty
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist seminary president says Christians should support the death penalty, but not necessarily how it is administered in the United States today. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a CNN commentary…
Faith leaders protest race in sentencing
By Bob Allen Local and national Baptists are among 27 evangelical leaders signing a Nov. 21 letter on behalf of an African-American man condemned to death after his sentencing jury was told he was likely to be a future danger…
Christians and capital punishment
By Roger Olson To this day, the majority of Americans favor capital punishment for certain crimes, in spite of — or perhaps because of — the almost overwhelming negative judgment about it on the parts of intellectuals and writers. I…