Rest In Peace, John Ferguson
John Ferguson was executed by the State of Florida on Monday, August 5 at 6:17 p.m. ET. He killed eight people thirty years ago, and many people can't get too excited about his own death. I understand that. As a Christian, I am grieved that my nation kills people to show that killing people is wrong. But I get it.
The civilized world does not get it. The United States of America is a member of an
elite club, forty-three nations that have executed people in the last ten years (brown in the map below, along with China, Syria, Libya, North Korea -- our good buddies, all of them). We bear the distinction of being the only member from among the
developed nations.
We do place limitations on the death penalty. Our constitution, since its first passage,
prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, the eighth amendment. Over the years, the Supreme Court has ruled that all forms execution are cruel and unusual, except for lethal injection, the method that Florida used to kill John.
American Medical Association on the Death Penalty