John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to die tonight by lethal injection in Virginia. He is responsible for the murders of 10 people in the D.C. area in 2002. His crime was heinous, murdering indiscriminately in cold blood.
It is a dark mark on our nation that we treat people in this manner. There is no excuse for what this criminal did, but there is also no excuse for our society to execute him. The laws allowing for execution in the United States are unjust. These laws do not prevent crime or keep society safe. The only motive served is vengeance, which is not a part of justice. Like other parts of the culture of death, we are taking unto ourselves judgments that we should not make. All life is sacred – even that of a criminal.
Make no mistake, I understand that a society has a right to use the death penalty, but that right is not a moral carte blanche. To take that life, a society must have good reason, and vengeance is not morally acceptable. That reason is lacking here, and so we collectively bear the shame of this sin.
Here is a challenge worthy of your consideration from The Death Penalty in Our Times | Archdiocese of Washington:
In the end we are invited to stand together with the Pope and Bishops in their prudential judgment on the matter of captial [sic] punishment. We may be emotionally glad to see the likes of John Allen Muhammad ushered out but in the end we should have serious questions about what we are really doing here. Our Pope and bishops ask us to ponder such things and to stand with them against such death oriented solutions. Why not, in time of war, stand with them in their strategy?
Today, let us pray for four things:
- The souls of Muhammad’s victims,
- The souls of the families of his victims,
- The redemption of our nation,
- and, yes, let us pray for John Allen Muhammad.
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