Would We Execute Moses?: The Case of Anthony Doyle

One day, a man became overcome with evil, grabbed an object and repeatedly struck the body of another until that person was dead.  After committing the murder, the man took the body, hid it and fled.

This series of events sounds eerily similar to what Texas Death Row Inmate Anthony Doyle was convicted of doing in 2003 to Hyun Cho.  However, the initial story is not about Anthony Doyle…it is found in Exodus 2 and describes Moses’ murder of the Egyptian.  Most people of faith would not equate Anthony Doyle with Moses…due primarily to the fact that we think we can justify taking a life by creating a monster out of our neighbor.  We fail to realize that the killer in the monsters we create is the same killer that was in Moses…and that also resides in us…evil.

Tonight, Texas will execute Anthony Doyle if no court stops them.  We have been taught our whole lives that we are to love our neighbors as our self.  Somehow it seems that we do not see Anthony Doyle as our neighbor.  This doesn’t change the fact that Moses would have been and so is Anthony.  When Texas executes Anthony Doyle…Texas will execute part of all of us…the part of our heart that failed to love our neighbor as our self enough to stop it.

Amen.

Update: Anthony Doyle was pronounced dead on March 27, 2014 at 6:49 p.m..