Capital punishment abuses

Today’s editorial in the New York Times addresses the issue of capital punishment. In particular, the editorial discusses recent abuses of lethal injection, in which states such as Missouri are hiring incompetent and unqualified “doctors” to handle the injections, resulting in numerous botched executions.

The Times writes: “We oppose capital punishment for a host of reasons, including that it is unconstitutional. Even those who support executing their citizens must see the need to ensure that the process is not barbarically cruel and is fully open to public scrutiny.” I fully agree with their position, though I would cite biblical and theological reasons to reject capital punishment (see here). At the very least, our society needs to be a place where life-taking acts are not simply accepted without question but are continually subjected to careful scrutiny and outside assessment. The taking of human life is no trivial matter. The moral fabric of this nation depends upon an awareness of how serious the matter of capital punishment really is, while the moral fabric of the church depends upon a consistently pro-life position that rejects capital punishment.