Florida’s not just a national leader in exporting oranges and producing bizarre headlines. This year they emerged as the state leader in executions, having put to death eight death row inmates this year already, with an additional inmate scheduled for death by month’s end.
Assuming the scheduled execution proceeds, that will make for nine executions this year, a national capital punishment record since the practice was legally reinstated in 1976.
In response to the record-setting rate of executions, an alliance of 100 clergy are pleading with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to stop putting prisoners to death, appealing to DeSantis’ deeply-held Catholicism by arguing that the practice is unethical and unbiblical.
Will the message resonate?
Justice or Vengeance?
“The governor alone decides who lives and who dies with no checks or balances,” stated Demetrius Minor, a Pentecostal minister and anti-death penalty activist. “My friends, that is not justice, that’s what we call vengeance, and it is very dangerous.”
Minor was walking the streets of Tallahassee to hand-deliver a letter signed by 100 of Florida’s most prominent Christian leaders. The letter, signed by Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and more, urged DeSantis to immediately cease the flurry of executions in Florida.
The letter lays bare their numerous ethical and legal complaints with capital punishment – including that it is racist and error-prone.
“Florida's death penalty system is plagued by racial disparities, a long and painful process that retraumatizes families, and a troubling history of wrongful convictions,” the letter reads. “Florida leads the nation in death row exonerations—proof that the risk of executing an innocent person is not hypothetical but real.”
The letter pleads with the governor to “work toward a justice system that reflects the moral leadership our communities expect and deserve,” and urges him to “[choose] life over death, healing over harm.”
Will It Work?
Will the letter have an impact? Don’t count on it, experts say.
DeSantis has long defended capital punishment, and even worked with the state legislature to broadly expand the practice in Florida. Earlier this year, the state passed five different death penalty bills, including one that legalized execution methods previously deemed barbaric, including firing squads, hangings, and the use of nitrogen gas.
Another bill imposes mandatory death penalty sentences for certain offenses.
Notably, the Supreme Court ruled decades ago mandatory death sentences for specific crimes are unconstitutional.
But DeSantis is pushing ahead anyway, saying it’s a necessary punishment for unspeakable crimes. “When you see these things across your desk, these are brutal, brutal crimes,” he stated. “This stuff is just overwhelmingly sadistic. It shocks your conscience.”
Since January, he’s signed more death warrants than any governor in any given calendar year in modern history.
The faith leaders understand that convincing Florida to stop state executions is a longshot. But they say their faith compels them to try to convince him regardless. “We can’t stay silent,” said Minor. If we are silent, we complicit.”
What is your response?
66 comments
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Nicholas J Page
I live in the UK and after watching the Green Mile I was horrified about the brutality barbaric way to die.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Perhaps the most-notable, widely publicized barbaric murder, of a the only son of the only God, who only had one son, yet, interestingly, no daughters, was planned and then implanted by then a Christian God (who arranged to have his only son, use crucifixion to kill himself, then, instead of correctly categorizing it as altruistic suicide — blame it on the Romans, then when the need came, calling it “altruistic suicide” caused by the Jews. Ergo, a suicide launched Christianity, which in turn, made suicide a sin — so there would be, hopefully, no more suicides by those wanting to start new religions.
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arawngraalrd
Didn't Mohammed call Suicide an offense, before he committed suicide?
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Najah P Tamargo
Najah Tamargo-USA
No MAN or WOMAN has the right to put someone to death. The only one that has the right to determine life and death is the Creator Almighty.
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Lionheart
And if anyone knows how to put someone to death the Christian genocidal God does. He’s had plenty of experience. He seems to prefer drowning people mostly. 🤷
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Jimmy Moon
Wrong on all points. We are HIS creation. HIS laws, HIS rules. HIS earth.
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Lionheart
That’s very misogynistic of you Mr Moon. 🤭. Do you have any demonstrable evidence that your god is male, or female? Did he have nipples, and if so…why? In fact, is it possible that your God is an hermaphrodite being as you might want to suggest it created both male and female? 😜
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Donald Dobie Jr
And just curious what do nipped have to do with male and female?🤔 I am a male and have three of them. Does that make me more female than women who have two? I, however, do not have funtional mammary glands..... just saying sometimes people riding high horses need to look out for low branches.
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Lionheart
I was always under the impression that anyone with three nipples were witches. I don’t know where that story came from. Interesting comment though.🙃
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Jimmy Moon
You are lost and never would understand.
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Lionheart
I understand more than you’ll ever realize. I have been where you are in what you would like to call “spirituality”, which is of course a human construct. I doubt you’ll agree with that, but that’s okay. Eventually, I woke up to the reality of mankind’s need for a deity, which has been going on for millennia since mankind first worshipped the sun being as they didn’t know what it was. It came up every day in the east so it seemed like a sensible thing to worship in the hope that it would continue to rise every morning, and low, and behold, it did so their prayers worked. If you had lived during those times, you also would have worshiped the sun, and possibly nothing would have persuaded you differently. 🤪
Thank you for your concern about me though. It’s greatly appreciated.🤗
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Jimmy Moon
I pray for the lost souls everyday. Yours included.
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Lionheart
Thank you, I know you mean well. As an FYI the efficacy of prayer has been studied since 1872. You can read about the poor results here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficacy_of_prayer
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Donald Dobie Jr
That comment was bit misogynistic as well lionheart. Why would someone so determined to call out an individual for using their chosen pronoun for their creator use the term MANkind instead humans, people, society, etc. I am saddened to see that this community of voluntary spiritual leaders, would distract from what is actually being said by how it is said. We all have an ideal vision of our own creator. I was under the impression that this community was created so that we can freely worship how we see fit, not be beholden to an individual's own ideals. I am merely making an observation. That these kind of threads unravel the altar cloth for which this community was created for.
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Lionheart
Good points Sir Donald. You wouldn’t by any chance be our wonderful savior Sir Donald Trump 🤴in disguise would you? 🤭
I was tempted to say HuMAN kind, but i figured you’d get me either way. 😜
Thank you for your comment.
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Michael Hunt
According to whom/what?
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Jimmy Moon
You are lost. You would never understand.
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Rachel Brink
I think that in this place, we should be respectful of all religions and the ways in which an individual chooses to express their spirituality. The topic here is capital punishment -- not the existence of any specific deity. No one here has all the answers about what exists behind the veil. There is enough chaos, hate, and polarization "out there." Maybe in this place we could try to accept one another and embrace differences.
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Lionheart
I do try to be respectful of all religions Lady Rachel, however, there has been so much evil that religions have caused throughout the eons of time, which make it very difficult for me to respect all religions, but thank you for your comment.🤗
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ServantOfJudgement
If a man has a gun on your child and wife and intends on killing them you don't have the right to kill him? You'd just let the guy kill your family off? If I were there and I took action to save your family would you stop me from killing the assailant so he could kill your family as you explained how it's wrong to kill?
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Lady Mutt Cat
That is an entirely different situation that the state committing capital punishment. ENTIRELY
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Pastor Jim
The law is the law. One would do well to learn and to legally change it according to a general consensus .. and then to respect it. Disregarding or breaking the law has consequences. God's law pertains to the mind of the believer and Man's law pertains to the realm of Man.
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Lady Mutt Cat
The law used to say that it is legal to own black people. Some law are disgusting.
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Brother Peter
I would suggest that spending the rest of your life in a 6' x12' cell, without windows and very limited time out side of it is a worse punishment. After 10, 20, 30 years there I'm sure some who are there would wish they were executed instead.
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Rachel Brink
"You who is without sin cast the first stone". That is what Jesus said about capital punishment.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
“Beware of those in whom the urge to punish is strong” — a God who sent his only son to this Earth, to allow himself to be tortured to death (altruistic suicide) is such an exemplary God.
And, yes, this is a Nietzsche quote — Google it and enjoy many more.
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Joseph Grieco
Based on cost studies, it costs more to keep someone on "Death Row" for the ten years or more it takes for the appeals to work their way in court than the 40 or so years of regular incarceration under a sentence of Life-Without-Parole. How is that? Because while on Death Row, they are effectively in solitary confinement. This means manpower has to be assigned to supervise them during their one hour out of the cell each day; their meals are served to them in the cell and the plates have to be collected. Put them in general population with a LW/OP, and that extra cost is resolved.
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David A Foreman
Racism is biblical. Subjugation of women is biblical. Smashing babies on rocks is biblical. "Is it biblical" may be a very religious question, but it can also be very antichrist. Much/most of Jesus' mission was to correct false understandings about God. He was known to quote the old testament and then say "But I Tell You..." He essentially said "Your bible got God wrong!!!" Fundamentalist religion does not know the God of Jesus.
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JT of the plains
Here is a quote I believe fits this very well. "Biblical or Christ like? Genocide is biblical. Loving your enemy is biblical. But only one is Christlike. Slavery is biblical. Chainbreaking is biblical. But only one is Christlike. Patriarchy is biblical. Counter-cultural elevation of women is biblical. But only one is Christlike. Retributive violence is biblical. Grace-filled restoration is biblical. But only one is Christlike. Segregation is biblical. Unity is biblical. But only one is Christlike. Christ transforms, not the Bible. Be wary of those who know one but not the other." --Jordan Harrell
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Tom Herman
This group only cares about the right to life when it comes to controlling women's bodies. Once a child is born they don't care if it lives or dies. It's never been about life; it's always been about power and control. It's costs money to take care of the living. I have no hope that these so called religious zealots will ever live up to, demonstrate or abide by the values they vocalize when it serves their need for power and control.
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Ari Joseph Bertine
Of course he isn't going to listen. There is a reason one of his most popular nicknames is "DeSatans." He is a creature made of hatred and greed, and the power to end human lives pleases him.
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Rev Ned
Rhonda Santis will not listen.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
As long as the Christian majority, knows, that their Christian God still supports the death penalty, so will the Catholic majority on the Supreme Court refuse to rule, that the death penalty is “cruel and unusual.” Christianity only exists, because the Christian God permitted his only son, to be tortured to death on a cross — and until the Christian God, tells the Pope (Gods representative on Earth) that “he’s now changed his mind, about murdering murderers, the death penalty will endure, especially in the evangelistic states such as Florida.
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ServantOfJudgement
It's quite usual for nearly all life forms on the planet to kill any offenders of their life or way of life. From the ant right up the the elephant they all kill offenders.
Nature knows nothing of cruelty otherwise it wouldn't be so cruel.
Religious has absolutely nothing to do with the rudimentary facts I've presented.
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John Alex Paxson
For violent offenders-no death penalty, Surgical blinding is the best deterrent!
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Robert Gagnon
It can take 20 or thirty years sometimes to execute these guys. Cruel and unusual is that amount of time waiting for it to come, not the actual execution itself. A very few may be quite innocent, sometimes they convict people that have gotten away with murder but didn't do the one they were sentenced for. I've done time and let me tell you I'd take execution over decades of time every time. The gas chamber was a nasty way to go, electric chair (old sparky in FL) looked bad, but you didn't feel it, lethal injection is way kinder than what the victims got. People around the world get killed every day by criminals that would never show you any empathy. A mad vicious dog gets put down, kept in a cage his whole life is considered cruel. There is no high road when dealing with murderers.
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Clive Hessing
Florida State Law is too lenient on leisure. The beginning of these problems are the late nights, fast paced lifestyles of the cities, and the inappropriate attractions that they license for adults to indulge in. These things only facilitate the transactions of discrepancy, many are offered illicit substances and activities in exchange for monetary compensation, which is no compensation for the damage nor the disrespect that takes place in the communities of the nation. The government needs to be made aware of these actions that lead to violent acts, unsolicited conversations, and wrongful ideology that plagues the memories of not only the Youth but the Adult population as well. Our society has been torn apart by privilege that goes beyond even the minimal outline of the Law and there are too many eyes being turned away from the truth in the Lord. Let no man take vengeance on that which is flesh, put away from you that which is unsatisfying and does not serve righteous purpose. Life is only joyful with bliss under the covering of the Most High, All things that are not outlined as Joyful or blissful acts only bring sorrow both in the beginning and the end. Save the Youths! Bring Reform.
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
I am in favor of the death penalty under a very limited set of conditions. These conditions include but are not limited to:
Sexual abuse/rape against infants, babies, toddlers, children, teens, adults when there is irrefutable evidence that these heinous crimes occurred.
Have murdered or tortured human beings simply because they exist and follow a different religion, are of another color, are lower income, are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, are disabled, elderly, diseased, etc. Again, there must be irrefutable evidence that these heinous crimes occurred.
Other cases of abuse against any human being of any age for the purpose of inflicting pain, humiliation, emotional or physical harm to.
I hear people say that the death penalty is not a deterrent to these crimes but it will absolutely deter the person who committed them.
Some examples of of the above include:
Robert Dear James Holmes Nikolas Cruz Salvador Ramos
I acknowledge others have ideas that differ from mine. I’m not here to argue, just stating my opinion.
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Patricia Ann Gross
I agree with your list, but will add to it murder by acts of terrorism, i.e. school or church shootings, murders committed with automatic/repeating weapons, bombing cars or buildings, etc. I also agree with the act having irrefutable evidence beyond "just a confession," as a person can take responsibility for act they didn't commit when mental illness or coersion are at play.
When Matthew Shepard's killers were sentenced, Matthew's mother argued against the death penalty in favor of life without parole (which they ultimately got.) Her reasoning was she wanted them to sit in a rotten hole the rest of their lives knowing why they were there, and having to think about it every day. To her, that was a fate worse than death. Since the killers were in their late twenties at the time, I suspect she was right.
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Jimmy Moon
Hang them on the public square and make other prisoners and jailbirds watch it. Maybe put some sense in their heads.
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Lionheart
Wow! Are you religious by any chance? I’m sure the genocidal, pestilential, infanticidal Christian God would be very proud of you. 🤭
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Lady Mutt Cat
I'm constantly amused at how the folks who most loudly proclaim themselves to be Christian are actually following the way of the nasty desert warrior god of the Old Testament. Jesus was absolutely a turn the other cheek kind of deity.
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Lionheart
Assuming he was real of course. His dad has a lot to answer for. 🤭
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Doctor Loyal
Let he, who is without sin, cast the first stone?
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Lionheart
Thank you. Can you find me a nice smooth heavy round one so that I can cast it at the god who tried to drown everyone, and killed children of the first born. He’s had it coming for a long time.
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John Alex Paxson
Surgical Blinding is a much better deterrent than incarceration or the death penalty.
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Lionheart
Would you by any chance be a reincarnation of those that ran the holocaust camps back in World War II? 🤭
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Donald Dobie Jr
How would taxing a system and having taxpayers to support someone on essentially a forced disability be a better option? Not to mention the strain both financially and physically it would put on the individuals loved ones to care for them. If the individual being blinded committed an act heinous enough to warrant such a punishment, then there is a chance that they wouldn't even care about the outcome for their decisions. Therefore being a burden on others would not bother them. But for the decent members of their family, who wouldn't want to see their loved ones suffer that set of actions would be more of a punishment than to the one who commits the crime.
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Mrknowitall
God supports the swift execution of murderers, rapists and kidnappers. God does not want society to live in fear more than it has to.
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Lionheart
I bet that edict didn’t go down very well when that god tried drowning everyone on earth. 🤷
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Patricia Sydney Solis
DeSantis casts a big shadow. And in that shadow is power as he is a typical puer aeternus, eternal child, who always are dictators, mass murderers with a big mother complex. Read Maria Louise von Franz. DeSantis also made what chemicals and who provides the chemicals SECRET. It’s downright Soviet. It’s satanic. DeSantis’s wife and mother both had breast cancer. He also served at Guantánamo Bay when there were deaths disguised as suicides.
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Patricia Ann Gross
From a Biblical point of view, there were many "sins" that would justify execution, such as a child talking back to their parents and adultery. Then again, slavery was acknowledged as acceptable, with some of the Epistles in the New Testament describing how one was to treat their slaves. Society has moved beyond some of these ideals, which have become known as agregious human rights violations. My biggest probelem with the death penalty is the inequities in they system. A person who cannot afford a high powered attorney is more likely to get the most severe penalty. An interesting study for Florida would be how many people on death row were defended by a public defender?
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Harley Oden Miller
Nobody on this planet has the right to play god period with anyone’s life and we all have a right to breath and to live i think people that who run places like that should be put to death.
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Lionheart
I have a right to play god. I think my morals are better than his. At least I haven’t killed anyone while having a temper tantrum, like he did with Pharaoh when he killed those children. He needs an anger management class. I won’t even mention those he drowned. He was a bad example as gods go.
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Walter J. Holbrook
God. Please forgive us
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Lionheart
Yes, whichever god you are, if you really exist, please forgive us, and let’s hope you’re not that nasty genocidal Christian god that was also very infanticidal. If you are, I will never forgive you. My empathy and compassion is far greater. Anyway god….have a better day. 😇
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Walter J. Holbrook
God. Please forgive us
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Doctor Loyal
It's interesting, Biblically, in the Old Testament, an "eye for an eye" viewpoint was endorsed, and was considered both proper as well as being an effective deterrent. In the New Testament, the emphasis was to, "turn the other cheek" as being less barbaric and prevented placing the weight of ending a life with the attendent lack of weight on one's soul. Being familiar with the incarcerated life, I am, in my humble opinion, experienced enough with prisons to state that "lifetime incarceration / imprisonment" is indeed the more barbaric of the possible sentences.
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Blake Andrew Tallman
i for one dont believe in the death penalty i think we should put the murderers and rapists and molesters and hate groups and terrorist groups to work make them work for eternity and keep them inprisoned for prison was for the ignorant not for the ones who did nothing wrong
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Lady Mutt Cat
Actually, I think that’s the Jewish god. He’s horribly bloodthirsty. As are his followers today. At least the Zionist ones are.
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Ronaldo
I am against the death penalty for all but one set of circumstances. It's not because I feel everyone has a right to life, even if they take the lives of others, but because our legal system is flawed, as are the people involved in it. Amnesty International has gotten people off of death row because they proved they were in fact innocent of the crimes. Corrupt or incompetent judges or prosecutors were often the reason they were found guilty. On the other hand, if a person is guilty of a heinous crime beyond all doubt, which is rare but has happened, then the death penalty should be applicable. On the gripping hand, the case would have to ensure that there is no doubt at all that the perpetrator committed the crime, and would never be returned to society under any circumstances, even if the death penalty wasn't on the books.
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arawngraalrd
I can tell you, that you're all going to die, and I'd like your path to this event to be fruitful and ethical. We have to maintain this promise, or none of any sense would dare be born. I'd think a hundred clerics would be somewhat aware of our innate immortality. My understanding is that, the 8th Amendment guarantees the death penalty, where the prisoner may not be returned to the living in a reasonable time, but the appeals process may be unlimited, for those who don't see the advantage of it. To cast a perpetrator into a pit for stoning is very democratic, as long as all realize they don't have to cast stones, but few have dared read this prescription. For a State to protect their public, the Privilege of Appeal should be an unlimited damnation.
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William B. Belcher
Remember, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Though shalt not kill is for normal humans who do not take the life of others maliciously. Exterminating premeditated killers from our midst harkens back to the oldest days of Christianity and the scriptures. Seek and ye shall find. Disobey the scriptures, and deservedly incur the appropriate punishment!
Let’s talk about the dual reasons for imprisonment. One: to make restitution for crimes committed, or two: to remove someone from society. The prison system does not do a good job of rehabilitation; it’s more like a holding pen. If the purpose is punishment, jails and prisons work well. If they’re meant to remove people from society, prisons work well, too, but to remove someone from the human race requires execution. Question: do we want to keep people alive but away from society, or do we remove them from humanity? Once society figures out which option it wants, the answer is clear. It all depends on the choice society picks.
Well, the question that precedes yours is this. What kind of society do we want to live in?
Whatever World I'm trying to live in, I'll have to share it with others.