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2025-08-26T19:30:09-06:00

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.

A Letter to Curtisia Windom / Florida, Don’t Kill Her Dad

Last updated on: August 26, 2025 at 7:30 pm By Jeff Hood

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Love is Stronger Than Florida’s Death Penalty August 27, 2025 Dear Curtisia, I’ve carried you in my heart in recent days. This afternoon as I was praying for you, the Spirit overwhelmed me and I just had to write. I know the whole world seems to be talking about your father’s execution, about justice, about politics, about crime. But I don’t want to talk about the state right now…I want to talk about you. The Weight of Loss and... Read more

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2025-08-26T09:42:11-06:00

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.

Stronger Than Murder: Mercy Must Replace the Death Penalty

Last updated on: August 26, 2025 at 9:42 am By Jeff Hood

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Mercy and the Death Penalty The Death Penalty Is About Us The death penalty is not just about crime. It’s not just about punishment. It’s not just about the worst things people have ever done. The death penalty is about us. It’s about our refusal of mercy. It’s about our unwillingness to believe that love is stronger than death. Every time we murder someone, we confess. We confess that mercy has a ceiling. We confess that our imagination for redemption... Read more

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2025-08-25T22:52:40-06:00

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 Eucharist, Executions and the Broken Body of Christ

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 10:52 pm By Jeff Hood

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The Eucharist: Body of a Prisoner The Eucharist is not a polite ritual. It’s the body of a man killed by the state. It’s the blood of a prisoner poured out in public. Every time we come to the table…we are standing at an execution. Executions as Betrayal of Christ Yet most churches dare to celebrate this feast while remaining silent in the midst of executions today. They take into their mouths the body of a murdered God while... Read more

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2025-08-25T10:57:35-06:00

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.

Pope Francis, The Death Penalty & The Radical Hope of Christ

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 10:57 am By Jeff Hood

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Pope Francis: The Death Penalty is No Longer Admissible When Pope Francis announced in 2018 that the death penalty is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2267), it was not a footnote in doctrine…it was a rupture. Centuries of Christian teaching carved out small spaces where executions could be tolerated. Francis slammed the door shut. He did so not because the world suddenly became gentler…but because the... Read more

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2025-08-25T10:58:02-06:00

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.

Alabama Will Execute Anthony Boyd at Its Own Spiritual Peril

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 10:58 am By Jeff Hood

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The Horror of Nitrogen Gas Executions On October 23, the State of Alabama intends to strap a mask to Anthony Boyd’s face and suffocate him with nitrogen gas. I wish I could tell you this was going to be quick and painless. I can’t. I’ve seen it. I was there when Kenneth Smith was killed this way. I watched him fight for breath. I watched his body convulse in panic. I watched him suffocate. It was not merciful. It was... Read more

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2025-08-25T10:58:35-06:00

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.

Try the Nitrogen Mask On: A Moral Test for Governor Sanders

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 10:58 am By Jeff Hood

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Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, before you authorize a nitrogen execution, try the mask on. Not for the cameras. Not as a stunt. Of course, without any nitrogen flowing. Just you, alone with your thoughts. Feel the mask bite into your cheeks. Let the mask press against your face. Sit. Breathe. Wait. Ask yourself…what hell am I about to unleash on Arkansas? Nitrogen Execution Is Not Humane Your advisors may call it “humane.” Corrections officials may call it “efficient.” But when... Read more

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2025-08-25T11:00:18-06:00

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 Passion of Jesus According to Nitrogen

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 11:00 am By Jeff Hood

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The Chamber In the darkness of night, they brought him to the chamber. Where am I going? Why this place? The hallway was narrow, its walls cold and unyielding, stretching into a silence that pressed against him. God, are you with me? Do you see this? At the end stood a steel door, its surface reflecting the faint glow of the fluorescent lights. When it opened, the room inside was blinding in its sterility. White walls, polished floors, and... Read more

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2026-01-13T19:51:27-06:00

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.

Facing Jim Jones & Jonestown: In Defense of Hopeful Writing

Last updated on: January 13, 2026 at 7:51 pm By Jeff Hood

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*This essay is a defense of my desire to wrestle with the horrors of Jim Jones and Jonestown…while still clinging to a hope for universal reconciliation…universal humanization. Why Jonestown Should Still Haunts Us. Jonestown haunts me. November 18, 1978. Over nine hundred souls lost in the Guyanese jungle under the command of Jim Jones. Let me be clear: Jim Jones was no prophet. He was no shepherd. He was a corrupter of God’s work, a charlatan who masqueraded as... Read more

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2025-08-21T12:46:39-06:00

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 Breath of Life Does Not Belong to the State

Last updated on: August 21, 2025 at 12:46 pm By Jeff Hood

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I saw it with my own eyes. January 25, 2024. Alabama. Kenneth Smith was a soul under my care. They tied him down. I watched as the mask crushed onto his face. I heard the hiss. Then came the jerking. The gasping. The desperate fight for air. Officials called it quick. They called it painless. They called it justice. Don’t believe them. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. What I witnessed was not quick. It... Read more

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2025-08-21T12:47:47-06:00

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.

Nitrogen Executions in Arkansas

Last updated on: August 21, 2025 at 12:47 pm By Jeff Hood

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I’ve seen nitrogen kill. January 25, 2024. Alabama. I was Kenneth Smith’s priest. He was tied to a gurney. Mask slammed on his face. Switch thrown. And then…chaos…jerking…gasping…fighting for the air God gave him. The State called it “quick” and “relatively painless.” I call it torture. I call it murder. I call it sin. Isaiah warns: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees.” Now Arkansas wants in. Act 302 puts that same power in... Read more

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