James J. Megivern

Religion and the Death Penalty

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning is a truly unusual book that more than lives up to its title. Its seventeen essays present a fuller spectrum of ideas and positions on religion and the death penalty than can be found anywhere else today. Its special value is that it turns the spotlight on so many of the central issues and lets articulate protagonists and antagonists calmly lay out their arguments at length. For anyone seriously struggling with the religious implications of the complex problems involved with capital punishment, this book presents a unique intellectual challenge. Incompatible positions are argued back-to-back, forcing honest readers to sharpen their own reasons for accepting or rejecting basic points. Wherever one comes out personally, working through the content of this book is bound to leave one with a more nuanced and a better-informed appreciation of what the debate is all about and why it is so important. If this volume were made required reading for all who addressed the issue publicly, the level of discourse would be much elevated. This is indeed 'a call for reckoning' well worth answering. Both the contributors and the publisher are to be commended for promoting a deeper discussion of the intersection of religion and the death penalty, freeing the debate from many of its irrelevancies, and thus bringing more sharply into focus the real issues. It could hardly arrive at a more timely moment in the national conversation.”