The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has halted an execution scheduled Aug. 24 which had been labeled immoral by a group of evangelical leaders including several well-known moderate Baptists.
Evangelicals urge halt to Texas execution
Four dozen evangelical leaders in Texas and across the nation issued an open letter Aug. 9 seeking to stop the execution of an 18-year death-row inmate scheduled to be executed Aug. 24.
Son of executed woman says no one has the right to say someone cannot change
The youngest son of the first woman executed in Georgia in 70 years spoke publicly for the first time about the experience in a breakout session at last week’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C. Dakota Brookshire — son…
Judge criticizes secrecy in U.S. executions
An Arkansas judge who last year declared unconstitutional a law that allows the state to keep confidential the source of drugs used for execution by lethal injection has lamented a 5-4 decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court reversing his ruling….
Pope Francis calls for world ‘free of the death penalty’
In a message to a world conference against the death penalty, Pope Francis says capital punishment “contradicts God’s plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice.”
How Jeanne Bishop forgave her sister’s killer and is working for his good.
It took Jeanne Bishop 20 years just to speak his name. That, she believed, would attribute a level of humanity to the man who shot her pregnant sister and brother-in-law to death in their own house — a level of…
Opponents see indicators that death penalty on its way out in U.S.
Melissa Browning was drawn deep into the anti-death penalty movement when the state of Georgia was trying to kill Kelly Gissendaner last year. There were plenty of ups, including multiple delays in her execution date. And there were downs, too,…
Is opposition to death penalty a non-negotiable for Christians? Yes, says one theologian
A Baptist theology professor said in a blog March 7 that authentic Christians must oppose the death penalty, even if it leads to division in the church. Roger Olson, professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, said there…
Kelly Gissendaner, the death penalty, and being pro-life
The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global…