Christian leaders across the theological spectrum are denouncing U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream a military execution, raising concern that such an action would reinforce the cycle of violence and violate human dignity.
There are a few exceptions, however, coming from leaders who have been strong supporters of President Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement. And leaders of some of the country’s largest denominations have yet to address the issue.
Hegseth made public his plans last week in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln warship, saying that the Dec. 3 execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan would be livestreamed “because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” Nisan is a former U.S. army major who killed 13 at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. He admitted to the killings and was his own attorney at his military trial. His motive, he has said, was to prevent U.S. soldiers from killing Muslims in Afghanistan, so the mass killing is considered an act of terrorism.
One of the religious bodies to most quickly condemn the execution was the Catholic Church, which has included a statement against capital punishment in its Catechism since 2018. Shortly after Hegseth’s announcement, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued this statement:
It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan. Our God is the God of life. In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (Romans 12:17). 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.
I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.
Similarly, Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, told the Religious News Service that while there is a “need for justice” in the Hasan case,
[A] live-streamed execution by firing squad risks turning one of the state’s most solemn responsibilities into a public spectacle, promoting a culture of death, rather than a culture that upholds the dignity of every human being.
The NAE itself has no position on the death penalty itself because its member churches are divided on the issue. In a resolution adopted in 2015, the NAE said:
Evangelical Christians differ in their beliefs about capital punishment, often citing strong biblical and theological reasons either for the just character of the death penalty in extreme cases or for the sacredness of all life, including the lives of those who perpetrate serious crimes and yet have the potential for repentance and reformation. We affirm the conscientious commitment of both streams of Christian ethical thought.
A split among evangelicals regarding a public execution was evident in readers’ responses to a neutral statement by Franklin Graham on Facebook; Graham is the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham and has been a supporter of Trump. Graham wrote this on Sunday before asking his readers what they thought:
There are a lot of strong opinions out there about live-streaming the execution of a convicted mass killer. I don’t know where that debate will land, but some network news shows were saying how disgusted they were and how terrible it is. I found it ironic that many who embrace Hollywood and its culture of death that is constantly depicting murders, rapes, and all kinds of violence —all in the name of entertainment — are saying they’re so appalled at this. Have we become desensitized to death?
The response was sharply divided. Sentiments such as this were typical for one side: “I believe GOD justified death of man as punishment for taking the life of someone (on purpose). Years ago public viewing was part of a punishment as it instilled shame as part of the punishment and I think also some deterrence.” And on the other: “I feel that viewing by the general public would hurt our collective national heart and conscience, and cause more harm than good.”
One evangelical leader speaking out against the plans was Shane Claiborne, one of the founders of Red Letter Christians, which has opposed the death penalty. According to several news accounts, he compared the plan to “lynchings and hangings and all the other ways that we’ve made a spectacle of death in our own history.” He also said:
I don’t think there’s any way that you can follow Christ — the Prince of Peace, the one who blessed the merciful and interrupted an execution by saying ‘let the one who is without sin cast the first stone’ and then champion executions.
Mainline Protestant leaders, whose denominations generally oppose capital punishment, have also denounced Hegseth’s plan. Among them was the Most Rev. Sean Howe of the Episcopal Church, who wrote:
The Episcopal Church has long formally opposed the death penalty, and more recently we have called for an immediate moratorium on its use. The idea of live-streaming a firing squad execution is reprehensible in the extreme and will cause moral injury to everyone involved. We need to ask ourselves who we have become as a nation when senior officials decide to make a spectacle of state-sponsored violence.
As of this morning, two of the country’s largest denominations — the Southern Baptist Convention and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — had yet to comment on the situation, although both occasionally do issue formal reactions to current events.
Two of the well-known evangelical leaders who endorsed Hegseth’s plans have been known for their frequent support of the Trump administration. Robert Jeffress, who heads the First Baptist Dallas megachurch, wrote on Facebook:
I support the Pentagon’s decision to livestream the execution of mass-murderer Nidal [Hasan]. Capital punishment is commanded by God in Genesis 9:6 to remind people of the sanctity of human life. The more people that can see that truth illustrated through a public execution, the better.
And while Dallas megachurch pastor Josh Howerton didn’t explictly endorse streaming the Hasan execution, he implicitly endorsed it, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that the Bible “clearly teaches” capital punishment, and that the purposes of such punishment are justice and “[p]ublic deterrence, so the rest of the people ‘shall hear and fear, and never again do any such evil,’” quoting Deuteronomy 13:11.