Among the many failings of capital punishment is its disproportionate use against people of color, its failure to deter violent crime and the spiritual and emotional trauma it inflicts on families, jurors and prison guards, death penalty abolitionist Michael Stone…
Evangelicals could kill capital punishment system if they would, speakers declare
The already dying American capital punishment system could be eradicated much sooner if evangelical Christians would stop supporting the practice, a Christian death penalty abolitionist said during a Sept. 10 webinar hosted by Equal Justice USA. “I remember hearing from…
Being holistically ‘pro-life’ is about more than abortion, Vineyard pastor says
Many evangelicals oppose abortion while supporting the death penalty because churches have failed to teach what it means to be holistically pro-life, Ohio minister Rich Nathan said during a webinar hosted by Equal Justice USA. Nathan is the founding pastor…
Is Trump innocent?
Of all the loud voices of protests from across the country about the unfairness of the legal system toward the former president, I have not heard a single one of them declare he is innocent. Thus, I am led to…
Louisiana Jews form alliance to oppose gassing as means of execution
Louisiana’s Jewish community has formed an alliance committed to protesting and ultimately repealing a new state law allowing the use of gas as an execution method. The Jews Against Gassing Coalition was formed after the March 5 passage of House…
Oklahoma plans to execute a man who didn’t commit a murder
Death penalty opponents are bracing for the anticipated execution of an Oklahoma man who even the state acknowledges did not kill anyone. Tremane Wood has been on Oklahoma’s Death Row since 2004 for participating in a robbery-turned-homicide in which the…
To combat the death penalty, educate yourself, activist urges
Christians opposed to the death penalty but unsure how to effectively challenge it can begin by educating themselves about the practice, civil rights activist Joia Erin Thornton said during a webinar hosted by Equal Justice USA. As founder and executive…
Religious leaders decry Louisiana plan to bring back electric chair and gassing for death penalty cases
A cross section of religious leaders gathered on the steps of the Louisiana Capitol recently to offer prayers and protest over the state’s plan to add the electric chair and poison gas to its lineup of execution methods. The representatives…
Global condemnation falls on Alabama for experimental capital punishment method
Alabama joined a lineup of the world’s most notorious human rights violators by being the first state to use nitrogen gas to execute a condemned prisoner who suffered intense pain before dying. “The death penalty is a violation of human…