<HTML>Doug: << Does anyone know how support of the death penalty became the "Christian" position, as defined by the Christian right? Didn't JC challenge him without sin to cast the first stone? >> Actually, this is an issue on which the Catholics break quite dramatically with the fundamentalists. The Conference of US Catholic Bishops has been consistently opposed to capitalist punishment, and the Pope has intervened in a number of cases asking for clemency. Like Hentoff at the Village Voice, the Catholic hierarchy sees this issue as analogous to abortion and assisted suicide, and argues for a pro-life posture across the board. Remember that the heroine of "Dead Man Walking" is a Catholic nun. Leo Casey United Federation of Teachers 260 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869) Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass -- </HTML>