A Conversation about the Death Penalty

This Monday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m., the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego will host “A Conversation about the Death Penalty” via zoom.

The death penalty is in the news again, “The Death Penalty Makes a Comeback:  Federal prosecutors seek the ultimate punishment for the Buffalo shooter.” (Wall Street Journal) 

On Jan. 25, 2024, Alabama executed Kenneth Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a first in American history. Yet only five states conducted executions and seven states imposed new death sentences in 2023, the lowest number of states in 20 years.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assemblies have opposed the death penalty since 1959. Join them for an evening when you will hear from a prison warden for death row prisoners, victims’ families, a professor of criminal justice, and others, with time for questions and answers on this important moral issue.

FPUC Parish Associate Pastor Bruce Gillette will be the conversation coordinator. He has ministered to murdered victims’ families; knows many people (including family) in law enforcement; officiated at weddings for a police chief and a correctional officer; led weekly Bible studies in a state prison for eight years, and Kairos retreats in three other prisons; has visited people in six prisons, and helped get clemency for a prisoner on death row.

Join the Zoom Meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89512707535?pwd=T0h6TFNSNlJMQi8zdlE5TDhlNDFRdz09; ID: 895 1270 7535; Passcode: FPUC.