Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News

2025-10-16T23:08:55-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Judicial Hide and Seek: The Legal Odyssey of Anthony Boyd

Last updated on: October 16, 2025 at 11:08 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

Judicial Hide and Seek: When the Courts Stay Silent Anthony Boyd’s case before the Eleventh Circuit is not about the method of execution or the timing of appeals…it is about the collapse of law itself in Alabama’s capital system. Under Alabama law (§15-18-82(a)), only the judiciary may set an execution date. Yet in 2023, at the request of the Attorney General, the Alabama Supreme Court rewrote the rule and handed that sacred judicial function to the Governor. The Vanishing Act of Justice in Alabama In... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

fresh writings

Thoughts

Alabama death penalty

Anthony Boyd

capital punishment injustice

Due Process

Eleventh Circuit

separation of powers

2025-10-15T16:34:52-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Exorcism in a Universalist Theology or Universalist Exorcism

Last updated on: October 15, 2025 at 4:34 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

Universalist Exorcism Exorcisms have often been portrayed as a desperate struggle between God and the devil, a battle where the stakes are eternal. In many Christian traditions, it carries the weight of ultimate fear…the idea that if demons are not cast out, souls may be lost forever in the fires of hell. In a universalistic mindset, the meaning of exorcism shifts dramatically. Hell and the devil are real, but they are not eternal. Evil exists and it is fierce, but... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

universalist theology

2025-10-13T13:26:36-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Justice Beyond Killing: Mr. Crawford & Moral Responsibility

Last updated on: October 13, 2025 at 1:26 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

Confession of Honest Rage “If my daughter had been abducted, tortured, abused, killed, I’d want to kill Mr. Chuck Crawford with my own hands.” I took some heat from the anti-death penalty crowd for saying those words at a press conference in Mississippi last week. Mr. Crawford is scheduled to be executed this Wednesday, October 15 for the 1993 rape and murder of Kristy Ray. But the truth of what I said stands. I’d say it again without apology.The rage... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

fresh writings

Thoughts

criminal justice reform

death penalty

ethical leadership

justice beyond killing

mercy and compassion

restorative justice

2025-10-13T13:26:53-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Samuel Smithers: The Age of Mercy

Last updated on: October 13, 2025 at 1:26 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

The Age of Samuel Smithers The Day Approaches On October 14, 2025, Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison. Convicted in 1999 for the murders of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach in Hillsborough County, he has spent more than 26 years on death row. The world outside has turned…seasons have passed…generations have changed…and yet the machinery of death remains ready, cold and unyielding. We are called to ponder what justice demands when... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

Uncategorized

capital punishment ethics

2025-10-13T13:27:07-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Samuel Lee Smithers: The Deacon of Death

Last updated on: October 13, 2025 at 1:27 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

The Deacon of Death There are crimes so brutal and intimate in their cruelty, that to remember them is to feel the ache of the world itself. The murders committed by Samuel Lee Smithers, once a church deacon and self-professed man of faith, belong in that category. They are not merely crimes…it is as if something demonic moved through him and left its stain upon the earth. For nearly thirty years, the people of Florida have waited for justice. Now,... Read more

Uncategorized

capital punishment

death penalty

DeSantis death warrants

Florida execution

justice and morality

Samuel Lee Smithers

2025-10-13T13:27:22-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Execution of Grace & Anthony Boyd

Last updated on: October 13, 2025 at 1:27 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

The Execution of Grace : Grace on the Scaffold The State Prepares to Kill In Alabama, the execution of grace is scheduled again. The state prepares to execute Anthony Boyd and in doing so places grace itself upon the scaffold. The machinery of death stands polished and ready, humming with bureaucratic precision, yet beneath its gleam lies a wound that cannot heal. Each time Alabama kills, it rehearses an old liturgy of violence, a ritual that confuses justice with vengeance... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

fresh writings

Thoughts

Anthony Boyd execution

criminal justice reform

Death penalty Alabama

Mercy and grace

racial justice

the execution of grace

2025-10-11T19:35:53-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Samaritan Returns: Healing, Indifference & The Gospel

Last updated on: October 11, 2025 at 7:35 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

Sight, Mercy and Grace The Samaritan Returns is a story about sight..about mercy…about what we do when grace finds us. Most people take their healing and run…but one turns back. The difference between the nine and the one isn’t just gratitude…it’s justice. This is Luke 17:11-19 as it lives in our world today. The Samaritan Returns or On the One Who Turned Back On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus walked the borderlands…the places in between…where the forgotten live. Ten people... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

the samaritan returns

2025-10-13T13:27:42-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Anthony Boyd is Innocent: The Extended Case

Last updated on: October 13, 2025 at 1:27 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

Preface Anthony Boyd is scheduled to be executed on October 23, 2025…making this document a matter of profound legal and moral urgency. I serve as Anthony’s spiritual advisor and will be with him in the chamber if his execution proceeds by the horrific means of nitrogen hypoxia. My role brings both a personal and spiritual responsibility to witness the process, support him and affirm his dignity in the face of a punishment that is irreversible. This analysis outlines critical flaws... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

2025-10-13T13:28:02-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Why I March for Anthony Boyd” : Liturgical Free Verse

Last updated on: October 13, 2025 at 1:28 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

I march for Anthony Boydbecause death has become ordinaryin this countrybecause the state whispers it to us like a lullabybecause justice now wears a mask of vengeancebecause our silence has become consent I march because somewherewe began to confuse punishment with virtuewe began to believe that killingcould cleanse the worldthat a mask could baptize our sins awaythat a ritual of death could sanctify our fear I march because I know better The execution of Anthony Boydis not law…it is ritualan... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

2025-10-06T13:53:33-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Modern Lynching in Alabama: On The Execution of Anthony Boyd

Last updated on: October 6, 2025 at 1:53 pm By Jeff Hood

0 Comments

The Execution of Anthony Boyd : A Modern Lynching in Alabama The scheduled execution of Anthony Boyd on October 23 is not simply the death of one man. It is a wound inflicted upon the moral soul of Alabama. To execute a black man in this state is to summon the ghosts of centuries past…to stir the air thick with the memory of terror, humiliation and ritualized violence. The blood of those lynched publicly…those left dangling from oaks while... Read more

Catholic

Politics and Religion

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who built the Tower of Babel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Canaanites The Babylonians The Philistines The people of Shinar

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Danny & Jeff fresh writings latest poetics north texas fellowship of reconciliation Sermon theology from death row Thoughts Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian