SALT LAKE CITY — Ahead of Taberon Honie's planned execution later this week, religious leaders in Salt Lake City shared their views on capital punishment.
Rabbi Sam Spector of Congregation Kol Ami says like many things in Judaism, there are mixed opinions on the death penalty.
"While we see that there are examples of capital punishment in the Torah and reasons for capital punishment in the Torah, most modern Jewish scholars take a very different approach and actually we even read in the Talmud that it was virtually impossible to actually execute someone," said Rabbi Spector.
Spector added that there are many things to consider with these types of cases.
Father John Evans is the Vicar General for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City and says Catholics have advocated for life across all "life issues."
"We don't seek the death penalty, and we know there are other adequate means to safeguard society incarceration, for example, but that is still not enough if we don't carry out the medicinal spiritual work of trying to bring about the redemption," he said.
In 2018, Pope Francis formally revised the Catholic Church's core teachings to oppose the death penalty.
"We have great faith in God and what he teaches us," said Evans, "we have great love for our neighbor and to care for them for the victims of these crimes committed against them, but for the perpetrator too that the redemption would be for them, too."
In a statement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it neither promotes nor opposes capital punishment and sees it, "a matter to be decided solely by the prescribed processes of civil law."
