After Sister Barbara Battista, a Roman Catholic nun staunchly opposed to the death penalty, agreed to accompany a condemned man at his execution in federal prison, she wondered doubtfully, “Am I just part of this whole killing machine?”
A Texas death row inmate won a reprieve Wednesday (Sept. 8) evening from execution for killing a convenience store worker during a 2004 robbery that garnered $1.25 after claiming the state was violating his religious freedom by not letting his pastor lay hands on him
Q&A with SBC minister Dana Moore on the power of prayer in a state death chamber. Read full piece
A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection. John Henry Ramirez, 37, is scheduled to be put to death in the Texas death chamber on Sept. 8.
The Bible continues to be used to boost support for the state killing people. In this issue of A Public Witness, we look at the state of the death penalty in the U.S. today, and the role of Christians in keeping it alive.
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on news that DNA evidence tested FOUR years after the execution of a Black man in Arkansas suggests the state killed an innocent man. Kaylor also highlights the Baptist prophet who tried to stop the execution.
Texas prisons have resumed allowing clergy as well as spiritual advisers in the death chamber, reversing a two-year ban created after the U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution of an inmate who had argued his religious freedom was being violated.
Faith groups are celebrating Virginia’s decision to ban the death penalty, a move considered to be a victory for religious opposition to capital punishment. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the ban — the first of any Southern state and the 23rd overall — into law on
Senator Tim Kaine: The repeal of the death penalty by its leading practitioner gives hope that work for justice is not in vain. Virginia’s progress shows that it is possible for all. Read full piece
An Alabama inmate on Thursday won a reprieve from a scheduled lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court said the state must allow his personal pastor in the death chamber.