The Pentagon said Thursday it would livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. It would be the first public execution in modern American history.
By Isabella Volmert, Staff Writer
The Rev. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas, said he supports the Pentagon’s announcement this week that the execution of the Fort Hood shooter will be public and livestreamed.
The execution by firing squad will be the first public execution in the United States in recent memory. The death penalty has long been a subject of morality for religious Americans, and the reinstatement of public viewing presents a new ethical and moral front on the topic as other religious leaders, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, were quick to condemn the announcement.
Jeffress, an influential evangelical voice in American religion and politics, said in a social media post Friday that capital punishment has grounds in the Bible.
“Capital punishment is commanded by God in Genesis 9:6 to remind people of the sanctity of human life,” said Jeffress, whose church is nationally recognized. “The more people that can see that truth illustrated through a public execution, the better.”
The Army announced this week that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan would take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. Hasan, a psychiatrist who was a major in the Army, was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009. The Pentagon said Thursday the execution will be livestreamed, although Vice President JD Vance on Friday cast doubt on the plan to livestream it.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the last state-sanctioned public execution in America took place in Kentucky in 1936. Executions have never been broadcast in the United States and the practice is rare worldwide, Reuters reported.
Jeffress has long supported the death penalty. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Jeffress further quoted the Book of Genesis, saying that God’s first law given to the biblical figure Noah was, “whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed.”
“God was saying life is so sacred, it is a gift from me, that anyone who takes it needs to suffer the ultimate penalty,” Jeffress said. “Capital punishment for society isn’t God’s suggestion; it’s God’s command.”
He said Scripture from the New Testament supports the death penalty, citing the Book of Romans. Jeffress said the broadcast of the execution is compatible with Christian Scripture as well.
“Since God gave capital punishment to be an object lesson for society to teach them the sanctity of life, it would follow that the more people who see it, the better it is,” he said.
Jeffress said he would likely watch the execution.
In the past century, Catholics and mainline branches of Protestantism have questioned the death penalty, said D. Stephen Long, a professor of ethics at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology. Long said broadcasting an execution presents new ground on the topic of capital punishment from a religious and moral perspective.
“I see it as a recovery of a kind of vicious theology,” Long said of religious support for broadcasting the execution. “It’s part of an almost sociopathic view of God that delights in death and destruction and harm.”
Josh Howerton, the senior pastor of megachurch Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, who has built a large online following, said in a social media post he “hesitantly” points out that executions in the Bible “were performed publicly before ‘all the assembly,’” and quoted the Book of Leviticus.
In his post on X, Howerton went on to say: “Some are misinterpreting this as me saying the government is always commanded to do this, or that it is always wise,” he said. “I’m simply pointing out it is what is prescribed (not just described) in the Bible, so I do not think you can say it’s unbiblical or automatically wrong.”
Some who support the death penalty however said they abhorred the idea of livestreaming the execution. Jeff Leach, a Republican state lawmaker representing Collin County who is vocal about his Christian faith, said Thursday he supports the firing squad method, but called livestreaming it “Sick. Childish. Petulant. Stupid. And dark.”
“Bloodlust isn’t Biblical,” Leach said in a social media post. “And it shouldn’t be something we celebrate or elevate in America.”
The use of a firing squad has also been condemned by some religious leaders, which has not been used by the military since World War II.
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced the plan Friday. The Catholic Church formally opposes capital punishment in all circumstances.
In a statement, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the group, called the announcement “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death,” and called on the government to reconsider.
“The word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (Romans 12:17),” Coakley said, quoting the New Testament of the Bible. “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”
Catholic Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson asked for prayers Friday, “for greater respect for human life and for our deliverance from a culture of death in all its forms.”
Following the recent failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, several groups in Dallas are scheduled to rally against the death penalty Saturday, including Muslims for Peace, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church and Dallas Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
Paula Keeth, a member of the Dallas Religious Society of Friends, said the broadcasting of the execution is “disgusting.”
“Everyone has that part of God in them,” she said. “We protect their life even for people who have done horrible things.”
Faith Reporter
Isabella Volmert reports on faith and religion for The Dallas Morning News. Previously, she covered state government and politics for the Associated Press in Indianapolis and Lansing, Mich. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
