Anyone who has ever read or heard his columns knows that this human being is more valuable to society alive than dead. His words are a poetic call to peace and justice. We've yet to read or hear hate emanating from his pen or lips. We've never been able to figure out how a culture, which touts itself as Judeo-Christian, can reconcile its stand on cherishing life while taking it. The call for the death penalty seems to come from ambitious politicians, certainly not from the religious or human rights community.
Polls say that about three-fourths of the American people support it.
However, research also shows that when given a choice between the death penalty and life in prison without the possibility of parole, support for capital punishment dramatically drops. This seems to indicate that our consciences do matter. In virtually all circumstances, cherishing life while taking life is indeed irreconcilable. The only real truth is that state executions lead to the taking of more life. In effect, the death penalty serves as an offering that is intended to maintain social order.