I prayerfully participated in the Missouri Catholic Conference sponsored Vigil outside the Governor’s Office on Tuesday, January 3, hoping that Governor Parson would grant clemency to Amber McClaughlin. Instead, he refused and she was executed that evening at the Correctional Facility in Bonne Terre. As I meditated, I could sense the hovering spirit of the biblical prophets denouncing the decision of the Governor to affirm the decision to make Amber McLaughlin the victim of State Murder. 

Her murder of her ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther, in November of 2003 was, of course, a horrific act for which the punishment of life in prison would have been warranted. However, her execution was also an act of state-sponsored depravity which contributes to Missouri’s “culture of death” in the words of attorney Nimrod Chapel, Missouri NAACP President. Execution does not deter criminal activity, it contributes to it. 

I would remind Governor Parson, apparently a man of faith, as the pending execution of Leonard Taylor approaches (2/7), that the Judeo-Christian tradtion has an uncompromising position on this matter: “Thou shall not kill/You shall not murder”.(Ex.20:13) Surely, the Governor does not want to condone a grave act of sin. The prophets have an alternative: “do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8), which, among other things, is to walk in solidarity with vulnerable children of God, as Amber McLaughlin was and Leonard Taylor is. Stop the depravity of the death penalty!

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Rev. Dr. John H. Bennett
Disciples of Christ Clergy (ret.)

“Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”
(Amos 5:24)