U.S. should end executions
Re “A painful paradox,” editorial, Oct. 3
Stoning, beheading, hanging, electric chair or lethal injection -- they are all brutal assaults on a helpless human being. There is no humane way to execute criminals, and the search for a more humane way is delusion. Execution is state-sanctioned murder, pure and simple. It reflects the raw impulse to vengeance that lies deep within everyone. But our religions and our civilization teach us to control the primitive modes of behavior. Only in the United States do we search for a humane death penalty; many other nations have ended immoral executions. So should we.
Rabbi Jerrold
Goldstein
Sherman Oaks
--
The writer is past president of California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty.
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