The upcom­ing exe­cu­tion of Ronnie Lee Gardner, who has opt­ed to be killed by a fir­ing squad in Utah on June 18, has attract­ed the atten­tion of many peo­ple of faith in the state. Hours before Gardner’s exe­cu­tion, promi­nent reli­gious lead­ers will gath­er for a vig­il to protest the exe­cu­tion. Religious lead­ers from groups often asso­ci­at­ed with being sup­port­ive of the death penal­ty have recent­ly voiced con­cerns about the prac­tice. The Mormon Church has moved from a posi­tion of sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment to one of neu­tral­i­ty, with some lead­ers oppos­ing it. Philip Barlow, who holds the Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University said, ​“I can’t imag­ine Jesus Christ par­tic­i­pat­ing in that sort of jus­tice.” State rep­re­sen­ta­tive Greg Hughes, R‑Draper and a Mormon, agreed with Barlow’s oppo­si­tion for oth­er rea­sons . ​“I don’t want to give gov­ern­ment the right to exe­cute cit­i­zens, peri­od,” he said. ​“Inevitably, you’re going to kill inno­cent peo­ple.” Shuaib-ud Din, imam of the Utah Islamic Center believes that the Quran and Prophet Muhammad’s say­ings sup­port the death penal­ty, but he has reser­va­tions about how well the sys­tem works and whether inno­cent peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed. He said, ​“The judi­cial sys­tem has to be near per­fect for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment to take place.”

Rabbi Joshua Aaronson, of Park City’s Temple Har Shalom, said Jews nev­er have seen ​“eye for an eye” as an excuse for ret­ri­bu­tion, for tak­ing the life even of a killer. ​“There is no equal­i­ty in jus­tice in that way. It nev­er works,” Aaronson said. ​“One life can’t be sub­sti­tut­ed for anoth­er life.…We dimin­ish our­selves as a state when­ev­er we put to death any­one by any means.” Nancy Appleby, chair­woman of the Utah Episcopal Diocese’s Peace and Justice Commission, said she had no great sym­pa­thy for peo­ple such as Gardner. ​“He’s done ter­ri­ble, ter­ri­ble things, and it’s very hard to love him,” said Appleby. ​“But if we’re called to love every­one, that includes Ronnie Lee Gardner.” Episcopalians have opposed the death penal­ty for 50 years.

Catholic Monsignor M. Francis Mannion, pas­tor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Utah, said his faith has taught against the death penal­ty explic­it­ly since the 1960s and the Second Vatican Council. ​“It is part of the church’s pro-life stance, which oppos­es killing anyone.” 

(K. Moulton, ​“Faiths and the faith­ful have var­ied views of death penal­ty,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 10, 2010). See New Voices and Religion and the Death Penalty. DPIC has a resource pack­et, Death Penalty Resources for Communities of Faith, avail­able for groups inter­est­ed in study­ing the death penal­ty in their con­gre­ga­tions. For more infor­ma­tion, email religious@​deathpenaltyinfo.​org.

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