But that's not a position he's pushing on his congregation. The McVeigh execution is scheduled for Monday in Terre Haute, Ind., and most Americans think that's just fine. A recent Gallup poll showed 81 percent of Americans support the McVeigh execution - including a majority of people who generally oppose the death penalty. Religious leaders on both sides of the issue have their arguments. Those opposed also find support in the Bible, in those passages that emphasize mercy and compassion.
Revenge is an immoral reason to take a life, others insist.
That's true, they say, even for Timothy McVeigh. That hard-line position is played softly in Oklahoma City, even by many religious leaders who believe it's right. Debating the merits of legal executions here right now would be like heart surgeons arguing over a patient in the operating room, said the Rev. George Back, dean of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. It's been six years since McVeigh's 5,000 pounds of fuel-mixed fertilizer devastated so many more lives than those he killed. It's still all but impossible to find someone in this city who wasn't hurt, rescued or rescuing, or near and dear to someone who was there.