Ray Krone: Religion

On the day Ray Krone was released from prison a reporter asked him how he justified God leaving him in prison for 10 years. Krone response to the reporter? “Maybe it’s not about the 10 years I spent in prison. Maybe it’s about what I have to do the next 10 years. I want to be a survivor and not a victim.”

As a man of faith, Ray held onto his beliefs throughout the 10 years he was incarcerated. He is now a staunch advocate of abolishing the death penalty and speaks alongside religious leaders with hopes of convincing others that the death penalty is wrong.

Opposing the death penalty isn’t a rare idea when it comes to religion. The Roman Catholic Church, which is the highest populated in the United States, are against the death penalty. The United Methodist Church, American Baptist Church, Presbyterian Churches, Episcopal Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches all support abolition.

There is often debate about the Conservative Protestant view on the death penalty. Most Conservative Protestants are in favor of the death penalty, but also hold a pro-life stance. They rationalize their beliefs by stating that to take an innocent human life is wrong, but to take the life of a person who has been committed of a heinous crime is justifiable. Despite their attempts at rationalization, I still find their quite contradicting. Who are we as humans, just as those who we sentence to death are humans, to take the life of another person? Guilty or not, human life should be held in the highest, most sacred manner. When there are other methods to ensure those guilty of crimes can never commit a similar crime again, there is absolutely no reason for the death penalty. There is absolutely no justification to the taking of another human being’s life.