I just came across a NPR report that Pope Francis rejects the death penalty on the ground that “it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and is leading the Catholic Church to work for its abolition worldwide.[1] Coincidentally, I recently appealed to “the dignity of the person” in a heated online exchange with a self-professed Christian, who treated me repeatedly with hostility and scorn. I asked, […]
Read moreTag: death penalty
“The Last Day of a Condemned Man” by Victor Hugo
This book is not an enjoyable read, not in the usual sense of the word. In fact, it caused me mental and physical discomfort, if not downright pain. The only other book that had a similar effect is Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”. These two books capture the last agonies of two men condemned to death, one by a terminal disease, the other by the death penalty, a social disease. […]
Read more