Last evening during her debate with Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton reiterated her support for capital punishment, explaining: “I do, for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe [the death penalty] is an appropriate punishment,” citing executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s sentence as “appropriate.”
Clinton’s girlhood immersion in 1960s Methodist Social Gospel activism is often recalled as deeply formative. The Methodist Church (predecessor to United Methodism) first started opposing capital punishment at its 1960 General Conference, although most Methodists likely remain unaware of it. During their years in Arkansas politics, the Clintons supported capital punishment, which was politically necessary in a southern state. Once, reputedly, after her United Methodist pastor in Little Rock criticized capital punishment from the pulpit, she carefully and lengthily explained her stance to the pastor during the typically brief after service handshake while others waited in line. Her time as Secretary of State maybe reinforced her understanding that the world is full of constant dangers and violently wicked men against which government must act most decisively.
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