The Common Good
March 2013

Globally Consistent

by Jerry Lang | March 2013

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As Jim Wallis pointed out in his January 2013 editorial "It's Time to End the Death Penalty," capital punishment is an affront to a "consistent ethic of life," which is usually understood as extending from human conception through end-of-life care. As a person interested in creation care, my attention was drawn to Bill McKibben's column ("Come Hell and High Water," January 2013) and his role as climate change prophet and activist. The question "who would Jesus execute?" needs to be expanded to "what planet would Jesus destroy?" Human life is already being destroyed as a result of our recalcitrance in addressing climate change and in confronting the corporate powers that profit from ignoring it. Death is more indirect, but just as final, when it originates from a smokestack or tailpipe as when it comes from lethal injection or the barrel of gun.

Jerry Lang
Muskegon, Michigan

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