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[[File:Susan Jacoby.JPG|thumbnail|right|200px|Susan Jacoby]]

[[File:Susan Jacoby.JPG|thumbnail|right|200px|Susan Jacoby]]

The [[Atheism|atheist]] author Susan Jacoby wrote in her article ''[[Atheism and death penalty]]'':

The [[Atheism|atheist]] author Susan Jacoby wrote in her article ''[[Atheism and the death penalty]]'':

{{Cquote|..Justice [[Antonin Scalia]]’s religious justification for the death penalty, which amounts to: God has the power of life and death and lawful governments derive their power from God; ergo, [[capital punishment]] is both morally and legally permissible. It is clear, however, that neither atheism nor religion per se is a predictable, decisive factor in public or individual attitudes toward capital punishment. However people choose to rationalize their position, capital puniishment is an emotional issue.

{{Cquote|..Justice [[Antonin Scalia]]’s religious justification for the death penalty, which amounts to: God has the power of life and death and lawful governments derive their power from God; ergo, capital punishment is both morally and legally permissible. It is clear, however, that neither atheism nor religion per se is a predictable, decisive factor in public or individual attitudes toward capital punishment. However people choose to rationalize their position, capital puniishment is an emotional issue.

Scalia was half-right in his contention that “the more Christian a country is the less likely it is to regard the death penalty as immoral. Abolition [of capital punishment] has taken its firmest hold in [[Secular Europe|post-Christian Europe]], and has least support in the churchgoing [[United States]].” [“First Things,” May 2002] He was only half-right because he was talking only about that part of the world that once comprised “Christendom.” In [[Saudi Arabia]], for example, there is a good deal of kingly and public (insofar as public opinion can be gauged in such a society) support for the death penalty and–the last time I checked–this oil kingdom was emphatically not a Christian nation...

Scalia was half-right in his contention that “the more Christian a country is the less likely it is to regard the death penalty as immoral. Abolition [of capital punishment] has taken its firmest hold in [[Secular Europe|post-Christian Europe]], and has least support in the churchgoing [[United States]].” [“First Things,” May 2002] He was only half-right because he was talking only about that part of the world that once comprised “Christendom.” In [[Saudi Arabia]], for example, there is a good deal of kingly and public (insofar as public opinion can be gauged in such a society) support for the death penalty and–the last time I checked–this oil kingdom was emphatically not a Christian nation...