Death Penalty News

The German Baptist Church in Pforzheim has been the centre of controversy since it was discovered that they believe that gay people deserve the death penalty. Other churches distance themselves from the statements and call for criminal charges. “We believe that homosexuality is a sin and a shame that God punishes with the death penalty”, the website of the Baptists in Pforzheim reads. The believers base this view on several Bible texts, such as Leviticus 20,13, Romans 1,31, 2 Peter 2,6, and Jude 7. In a letter to Pforzheimer Zeitung, pastor Anselm Urban explains that Leviticus clearly says that men who lie together should be put to death. He points out that the illness of AIDS proves that God condemns gay people, as it is “almost exclusively transmitted by sodomites.” 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing the case Monday of a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that's the latest clash of religion and gay rights to land at the highest court. The designer and her supporters say that ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their faith. Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black customers, Jewish or Muslim people, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants, among others. The case comes at a time when the court is dominated 6-3 by conservatives and following a series of cases in which the justices have sided with religious plaintiffs. It also comes as, across the street from the court, lawmakers in Congress are finalizing a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriage. The bill, which also protects interracial marria...

Reporters in Oklahoma are asking a candidate with a violent past why he refuses to reply to their questions about comments he made years ago suggesting gay people should be executed. Today, Republican Scott Esk faces fellow Republican Gloria Banister in a runoff for a state house seat. Esk, 56, according to LGBTQ Nation, is being confronted by the local press about his previous comments, and, "He's not handling them well." Esk said in a video he disseminated online on Sunday to "set the record straight" for the third time that reports of his views were manufactured to make him appear in a bad light, calling them "hit pieces." As a result of a local news station reporting on his old comments, he responded in a YouTube video on July 15. He said that he believes his stance on homosexuality makes him a "Christian." "I've stood up for what is right in the past, and I intend to in the future, and I am right now. That's got me in troubl...

MANILA, Philippines — Saying the country’s judicial system should first be fixed, presidential aspirant Senator Manny Pacquiao has  changed his tone on the revival of the death penalty, but his stand against same-sex marriage remains the same. “About the death penalty, before, I filed a bill in the Senate. But right now, I’m just holding it. I’m not pushing right now because of the situation of this country,” Pacquiao said in an interview with Vice News Asia Monday. “I don’t want… innocent people [to] be punished by death. So we want to fix first our judicial system in this country and arrange everything and make sure that the government is performing their duty,” he added. Earlier, Pacquiao, a born-again Christian, has pushed for the revival of capital punishment for heinous crimes involving the manufacturing and trafficking of illegal drugs. Same-sex marriage Despite a changed stance on death penalty, Pacquiao remains firm on his stand on same-sex marriage. “Being a Christian, I’...

A man who allegedly shot and killed his 14-year-old son for being gay appeared in court in Nevada on Wednesday, November 6. 53-year-old father Wendell Melton was arrested and accused of the murder of his son Giovanni on November 2 2017, but is yet to go to trial and is currently under house arrest. According to Advocate, he faces charges of open murder, felony possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and first-degree felony child abuse. Wendell originally claimed that he shot and killed his son by accident and that he didn’t mean to fire the gun, but Giovanni’s mother Veronica Melton told KTNV that she disagrees. She said her former husband “always trying to find out if my son was gay”, and that Giovanni had come to her two months before his death. She believes that he came out to his father around the same time. She added: “He couldn’t deal with it because, when I was married to him, he would make very disparaging remarks against people that were gay, and...

Justin Olsen created a Discord server for his iFunny subscribers where he allegedly threatened to kill federal officers. An 18-year-old Ohio man charged Monday with threatening a federal officer allegedly posted extensively online about mass shootings, specifically targeting Planned Parenthood. According to an affidavit, the bulk of Justin Olsen’s radicalized content was posted under the name ArmyOfChrist on meme-hosting app iFunny. Federal agents seized 15 rifles, 10 semiautomatic pistols, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition during the arrest earlier this month. Investigators said Olsen admitted that he was posting on iFunny under the name ArmyOfChrist and told the FBI during his arrest that his posts were supposed to be a joke. He described his posts about shooting federal agents as “a hyperbolic conclusion based on the results of the Waco siege.” The FBI began investigating the iFunny account in February. As it gained more subscribers, Olsen created a Discord server t...

An anti-gay preacher has been banned from entering most of Europe, Dutch officials have confirmed.  Steven Anderson, from Arizona, US, has previously called for the execution of gay people by stoning and said it was ‘good news’ that 49 victims died in the Orlando nightclub mass shooting.  LGBTI campaigners, Dutch MPs and Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, called on the government to block the preacher’s entry ahead of his European tour, which included events in Ireland and Sweden.  Dutch security minister Mark Harbers announced he had taken steps to stop Anderson entering the Schengen Area, comprising 26 European countries, for a planned visit to The Netherlands on May 23.  In a statement issued to Dutch parliament on Wednesday, Harbers said: ‘There is no place in a democratic nation like ours for discrimination, incitement to hatred or intolerance and violence on any grounds. ‘Civil liberties are not a license for intolerant behaviour that limits t...

In 1985, Billy Ray Irick committed a hideous crime in Tennessee. Last week, the state of Tennessee responded in kind. NASHVILLE — On Thursday morning, The Knoxville News Sentinel published a front-page story by Matt Lakin about the imminent execution of Billy Ray Irick . The inmate had been on death row since 1986, a year after he confessed to raping and murdering a 7-year-old child left in his care. The little girl was named Paula Dyer. She called her murderer “Uncle Bill.” The print headline read, “Paula Dyer’s last day on Earth.” Thursday was Billy Ray Irick’s last day on Earth. His execution was the first in Tennessee since 2009. The physical evidence against him was incontrovertible, and no one is questioning his guilt. But there are big questions about whether Tennessee should have executed him. As Nashville Scene’s Steven Hale has reported in depth , Mr. Irick apparently suffered from severe mental illness. He spent much of his childhood in a home for abused and t...

(RNS) — With America’s next executions scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 9) in Tennessee and next week (Aug. 14) in Nebraska, there couldn’t have been a better time for Pope Francis to wholeheartedly denounce the death penalty — and for Christians worldwide to double down on their commitment to end it. Last Thursday (Aug. 2), Pope Francis, backed by bishops around the world, declared the death penalty unacceptable in all cases, calling executions “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” He made it the official doctrine of the Catholic Church, changing the catechism to fully oppose the death penalty, without exception. He also invited Christians around the world to prioritize ending the death penalty. This is a big deal. Christians have a long history with the death penalty, going all the way back to A.D. 33, when the Roman Empire crucified Jesus. While Catholics haven’t always lived up to the catechism’s ideals, this document still provides a crucial ethical f...