Thank you for your excellent reporting on the execution of Jessie Hoffman on March 18 by the state of Louisiana at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
I have been visiting Angola for over 15 years (with time out for the pandemic) to help lead a monthly Bible study sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and to help lead an annual three-day retreat sponsored by Kairos Prison Ministry International. Every time I check through the main gate, I meditate on the appropriateness of the sign stating that I am entering the Louisiana State Penitentiary. This is a place for people to be imprisoned – to limit their harmful behavior, to be punished and to do penance.
As a Christian, I am opposed to the death penalty. Jesus told the accusers of the woman caught in adultery that anyone of them without sin could throw the first stone to put her to death. They all walked away. "Go, sin no more," Jesus told the woman.
I did not know Hoffman, but I was moved by the on March 17 written by The Rev. Michaela Bono, his Buddhist priest chaplain on death row. She described him as a humble, changed man who served as a “.. mentor, guiding younger men on their own paths to peace and helping them manage conflict and choose a life away from violence.”
Our life and our bodies are given to us by God, not the state. The state does not have the right to terminate anyone’s life. I cannot imagine Jesus looking down from His cross affirming this or any execution.
RICHARD SAXER
New Orleans