The United Methodist Church will wrestle once more at its General Conference with the question of homosexuality. Will there be an accord? Will there be schism? Or will the issue return in another four years, as it has for the last four decades?
With Arizona’s execution of convicted murderer Joseph Rudolph Wood III on July 23, 2014, the question of the morality of the death penalty has again come to the fore.
The movement to bar any reference to Islam’s legal code, known as Shariah, from the American judicial system is moving ahead even as it faces legal challenges in the courts.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the University of Texas at San Antonio Office of Community and Restorative Justice have discussed developing a consortium of restorative justice leaders for discussion and research.
Bridges to Life is a faith-based restorative justice program based in Houston. It was started by John Sage after his sister was murdered. It works in 21 Texas prisons and one in Louisiana.
Louisiana’s Catholic bishops spoke in favor of restorative justice policies in a 2002 pastoral statement “Let Justice and Mercy Meet.” The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections uses some restorative justice ideas and practices in its services, among them victim-offender dialogue.
