John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in Virginia.  The U.S. supreme court denied an appeal from Muhammad’s lawyers.

This is a very difficult situation.  I feel for the victims and their families but I do not believe that the death penalty is the answer.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in Part 3 Section 2 Article 5:

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Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.

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