The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to expand the use of the federal death penalty, including through the deployment of firing squads.

The announcement on Friday was part of a policy document issued by the Department of Justice, setting out the legal argument for various methods of execution.

It touted steps for “restoring and strengthening” the death penalty as integral to the pursuit of justice.

“The Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences — clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

  • BillyClark@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    98
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 days ago

    Whenever capital punishment comes up, I am reminded of the hypocrisy of American Christians.

    Pretty much every Christian claims to believe that killing is prohibited by the ten commandments. In a democracy, if you vote for a politician who supports the death penalty, you are asking them to kill a person on your behalf. A Christian should not be able to vote for a politician who supports the death penalty.

    Compare that with abortion. The bible says virtually nothing about abortion except how to pray for one. If you vote for a pro-choice politician, nobody is being killed on your behalf.

    Compare these two, and it’s obvious that a Christian who votes for a pro-death-penalty and anti-abortion candidate is voting against their own religion. But they claim to be voting for Christian values, which is pure hypocrisy.

    • leoj@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      43
      ·
      3 days ago

      I think we are reaching a point where its an open secret that the words of Jesus are purely marketing for Christianity and the reality is quite uglier.

        • leoj@piefed.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          3 days ago

          yeah but the realization for large portions of the population is what is new, although I agree that it has always been just marketing!

          • jimerson@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            3 days ago

            It might not even be the amount of people realizing, but the ability to share and express ideas has gotten a little easier. …at least for now.

            • leoj@piefed.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              3 days ago

              yeah, although I feel like open communication leads to more people realizing, but I get your point.

              I feel like the democratization of global communication led to “a new hope” of sorts, and now we’re living through “The Empire Strikes Back”

              Just got to make it to the third movie before things get too bleak… Hopefully…

              • jimerson@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                3 days ago

                Totally agree with you on all points. People seem willing to rise up, even if it’s taking a bit longer than I’d have hoped, but there is still hope.

      • acargitz@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        3 days ago

        I’m an atheist and I know not to subsume all of Christianity under white evangelicalism.

        • Enkrod@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          3 days ago

          Yeah, I think all religion is superstition and all superstition is a negative force on humanity, but even I think that some religions and denominations are worse than others. And yes, evangelicism is among the very worst.

      • orbitz@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        For many for sure, I still hope others think the proper lessons are good. I mostly cling to that cause I went to religious schools as a kid, parents were not and I am not, but had decent education otherwise. But I did learn Christianity decently and in general has good ideas but they’ve been warped to greedy people’s needs.

        Kinda reminds me of the movie Dogma, ideas are good (help people, be kind etc) but beliefs are hard to change. If you got an idea it can be shifted into something better as needs change.

        I think if there is a higher power (I don’t really but think it’s a possibility like multi dimensions) they’d like us to understand the spirit of that book, not literal and not use it like a shield for being an asshole.

        In the end you are you, if you don’t do stuff cause a book says no, it not cause you are good. If you do good stuff just cause a book says so it’s not good either. Want to be better for the people around you, not what some book says.

    • kmartburrito@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      3 days ago

      As someone raised in the church, but did not fall into white nationalism like so many Republicans, they will absolutely never be swayed by logic. They’re literally brainwashed in a cult. Jesus is no different than a member of antifa to them. They only care about themselves, their cult, its leader, and seeing other people hurt. None of those things are in the ten commandments. If judgement day came today, every single one of them would have a reserved seat in a particularly nasty place in Hell.