Posted on 08/01/2019 5:56:40 PM PDT by marshmallow
WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than 180 faith leaders in Texas, including 18 Catholics, signed a statement sent to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice July 23 asking the agency to change its policy banning prison chaplains from execution chambers.
“Clergy have the right to minister to those who have placed themselves in their care, up to and including the moment of death. The state cannot, and should not attempt to, regulate spiritual solace,” the faith leaders said.
The signers representing several religious traditions, including Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Presbyterian, Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, United Methodist and Buddhist, urged the state agency’s officials to reconsider a policy it adopted this spring. Women religious, priests, deacons and laity were among the Catholic signers.
The group acknowledged that they have differing opinions on the death penalty but said they are “united in recognizing that the right of condemned people to spiritual comfort at the moment of death is a long-standing and widely recognized religious practice.”
“Each faith tradition marks this sacred moment in different ways, including anointing, singing, praying and chanting, and laying on of hands. These rituals, stemming from sincerely held religious beliefs, often require the direct assistance of clergy. The significance of the physical presence of a chaplain at a condemned person’s last moment is difficult to overstate,” the statement said.
On April 3, just five days after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of Texas death-row inmate Patrick Murphy because his Buddhist religious adviser wasn’t permitted to be present, state officials announced its ban of all prison chaplains from the chamber during executions but allowed inmates to choose spiritual advisers to be in the viewing room.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
How many will ask for a satanist priest or whatever they call themselves?
Was there a minister of any kind when the murderer killed their victim? Was the victim offered a last meal?
I agree, a man at his last minutes should be allowed that.
How many chaplins are permitted inside of abortion clinics?
>>How many will ask for a satanist priest or whatever they call themselves?
Satanists are white supremacists. Their god Anton LeVay quoted and loved the same text cited as a “white supremacist/far right” book in the garlic festival massacre.
Let them. God will not be mocked when final judgement is here.
Repent.
This is going too far. A preacher or priest has always been allowed to accompany the condemned to the gallows.
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