Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was responsible for the deaths of 168 people and for wounding hundreds more when he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building; it was the worst act of domestic terrorism in United States history. He was put to death in 2001 through lethal injection, but before he was sentenced to the death penalty many religious peoples and organizations- 65, to be exact- "asked President Bush not to execute McVeigh and to impose a moratorium on all Federal executions," saying that the suffering of the victims' families cannot be healed through the vengeance of the death penalty. This article shows correspondent Tim O'Brien discussing the death penalty with people of faith coming from two different perspectives- one believing that McVeigh was rightfully executed, and the other that capital punishment is not the right way to punish him. The arguments are as they always seem to be: that by allowing him to live we are saying his life is worthy of living, by punishing him by death we are demeaning ourselves and not punishing in a just way. I do not know what I agree with more, but if I were to solely look at the different reverends' perspectives I would have to say that I understand where Reverend Alexander is coming from the most.
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