A statement on the planned livestreaming of an execution

There are moments when silence risks becoming acceptance, and when the church is called to speak with moral clarity. We believe this is one of those moments. As leaders of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), we feel compelled to speak because the taking of a human life as a public spectacle, both historically and currently, is an atrocity from which we are called to repent and which we are called to help repair. We express our profound grief, moral outrage and deep concern over the plan to livestream the execution of the individual responsible for the horrific killings at Fort Hood.

We remember the lives lost, the families whose grief continues and the survivors who carry wounds that no passage of time can fully erase. Their suffering deserves our compassion, our prayers, and our unwavering commitment to justice and healing.

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Since 1959, the General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and our predecessor denominations have opposed the death penalty. This position is grounded in our conviction that every human life bears the image of God, that God’s commandment not to kill is still good, that Christ’s call to go beyond “an eye for an eye” is still part of our call and that justice must never be confused with vengeance. To turn an execution into a public spectacle further diminishes the dignity of human life and risks deepening the wounds of an already hurting nation.

The General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have also consistently affirmed a commitment to peacemaking and nonviolence in the church and in the world, including an affirmation that peacemaking is essential to our faith in God’s reconciling work in Jesus Christ, that the church bears witness to Christ when we nourish the moral life of the nation for the sake of peace, and that our call is to practice in all aspects of life and witness the things that make for peace.

We believe our nation desperately needs healing, not another occasion to normalize violence. True justice honors victims and upholds human dignity.

We call upon members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and all people of conscience to contact their members of Congress and urge them to speak out against the public broadcasting of executions. Whatever our differences, we must ask ourselves what kind of nation we are when the taking of a human life is made into a public spectacle. Our elected leaders need to hear that justice must be guided by human dignity, not the desire for retribution, and that our nation needs healing rather than further desensitization to violence.

To the church, we offer this word of hope: Death and violence do not have the final word. As followers of the risen Christ, we are called to bear witness to a different way: a way of compassion, courageous love and healing. May we be instruments of God’s peace in a nation longing to be made whole.

The Rev. Jihyun Oh is Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness. The Rev. Marta Pumroy-Cordero and the Rev. Dr. Kris Schondelmeyer are Co-Moderators of the 227^th General Assembly (2026).