How awful. How shameful.

I’m askance. At societies that put people to death. Yes, execution. Capital punishment. For any reason. Just seems so morally wrong. And yet, I suspect it’s done. In large part. For religious reasons.  Considered moral.  Some religions favor cruel and unusual punishment.  Such as cutting off the hands of thieves. To teach the thief a lesson. The hard way. Maybe religious fanatics see death as the easy way. To teach a religious lesson. Better to be burned alive. At the stake. Than be allowed to live after a religious indiscretion. Such as blasphemy. Mere words. Mere thoughts. Have through the ages been reason for execution. Yes, for merely theorizing that the Earth wasn’t at the center of the universe. For not accepting religious dogma. In Texas, pious politicians worshiping at the temple of capital punishment even put the mentally retarded to death. For crimes they can’t even understand. Their crime, I suppose, is being morons. But to me, the real morons are politicians and religious fanatics. The ones that almost gleefully adopt death penalties. Especially for poor people. Black people. Even, in some cases, innocent people. Yes, they do it without any sense of remorse. In the name of vengeance. And retribution. Even in the name of their god. How awful. How shameful. –Jim Broede