Today a related yet different concern has arisen. It has been announced that our military plans to live-stream the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan on December 3, 2026. Hasan went on a November 5, 2009 shooting spree at Ft. Hood in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. He was convicted in a military court-martial on August 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death. Our laws requires the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to approve a military execution, which President Trump did on October 2, 2026.

In the Episcopal Church we hold strong beliefs but we do not assume that our scriptures, our traditions, or the actions of General Convention settle all debates or answer every question. You are free to hold your own opinion about whether or not Hasan should be executed. And without a doubt our care and compassion goes out to those who were wounded and those who had loved ones violently taken from them. About political and social positions and practices we may disagree, but in the religion of Christ extending compassion is never up for debate.

The Pentagon announced that it will live-stream the execution, but has not released plans for how that will be done. A firing squad will need to be trained as the last military execution by firing squad occurred in 1945. Further, Hasan is paralyzed and therefore wheelchair bound, which could affect firing squad procedures. All that being said, our concern is that making an execution public by live-streaming it cheapens moral discourse, resonates with terrible parts of our nation’s history, and is out of step with the example of Jesus Christ.

Relatedly, one of the worst parts of U.S. history was the public lynching of African Americans during the Jim Crow era (late 19th to mid 20th centuries). From 1877 to 1950 the Equal Justice Initiative estimates that there were over 3,900 lynchings in the United States. The NAACP estimates that by 1968 that number had risen to just over 4,700. The public nature of these lynchings ensured the fear and control that was necessary to maintain white supremacy. Most were executed without trial or good cause. Any public execution brings back the specter of this wicked portion of American history.

Finally, the idea of a public execution does not follow the example of Jesus. In John 8:1-11. The Scribes and Pharisees come to Jesus who is teaching in the Jerusalem Temple. They present to him, in the view of everyone, a woman caught in adultery. Who or where the man participating in that adultery is we are not told. This omission is significant because the Torah actually says, “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10). Hoping to catch Jesus disregarding the Law, these Scribes and Pharisees ask for Jesus’ judgment on stoning her to death.

Being in the Temple, this action is decidedly public. Not that they would stone someone in the Temple, but judging her there means that many of the people would follow them outside for the execution. At that time, Israel did not have courtrooms. Instead, the elders of the community would hear the case and pass judgment. So the fact that Scribes and Pharisees are the ones asking makes this a judicial event, as does seeking a judgment on execution.