This post's topic and its podcast will engage you in a difficult and emotional topic - The Death Penalty.  And it will do that in a very direct and forceful way.  If this subject isn't something you want to be part of, you'll want to exit now.

The subject of the Death Penalty concerns only the worst of crimes - murdering another human being.  And it is complicated by how, in many instances, society punishes those who have committed that worst of crimes - by also killing them.

In Oregon, the intentional, purposeful killing of another human being is to be punished by the state killing the killer.  This punishment's rationale comes from the Biblical maxim of an eye-for-an-eye; that is, there should be proportional punishment for wrong-doing.

It makes sense that something that's been stolen should be returned to its owner and the thief punished for doing something that society does not condone.

But how to repay someone for the loss of a family member, a spouse or a child?  Stolen goods can be returned but a lost life can't be restored.

And is the death penalty an effective deterrent, warning would-be killers that they'll meet a similar fate if they commit the worst of crimes?

You and I, or at least most of us, enjoy the luxury of debating these questions from a safe, comfortable distance.  But how does it feel from the inside looking out?

What about the killer who's been condemned to die?  What do they think and feel as they take that last walk down a hall leading to the death chamber's open door, knowing they won't be walking back out that door?

Is the person standing in that doorway the same person who committed the worst of crimes many years before when they were drunk or immature or drug-crazed?  Can people change and become better persons who should be able to rejoin society?

Should convicted killers be denied the opportunity to change and get a chance to keep living?  The death penalty doesn't allow reformation and redemption because the killer's victim has been denied those same rights.

Our podcast tells the story of someone who sits at the center of all these moral questions.  His duty was to care for the souls of all persons, regardless of the fate that awaits them. 

Reverend Carroll Picket was hired by the State of Texas to minister to the souls of 95 persons as they were executed in the prison at Huntsville, Texas.  What did he see and feel after watching 95 people die?  How did he deal with his feelings, as a fellow human being?
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