Politics and Morality of the Death Penalty

One of the oddest things about those who support the so-called pro-life position on abortion is that most of them also favor the death penalty.

While civilized society in much of the world has rejected the death penalty as a holdover from the Middle Ages, conservative Americans have pushed to re-establish the death penalty. Perhaps consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, but when it comes to morality, the taking of another life is not a trifling matter and cannot be seen as promoting life under any circumstances.

Is it possible that conservatives can concede that support of the death penalty is not a pro-life position? From the latest Mother Jones comes this provoacative piece about some conservative Catholics who are rethinking the death penalty.