The Number is Six<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Number is Six\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-03T17:12:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-01T13:15:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\",\"name\":\"The Number is Six\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-03T17:12:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-01T13:15:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Number is Six\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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{"id":59336,"date":"2015-10-03T12:12:26","date_gmt":"2015-10-03T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=59336"},"modified":"2015-10-01T08:15:19","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T13:15:19","slug":"the-number-is-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/","title":{"rendered":"The Number is Six"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Mark Berman<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from which the pope could speak to this\u00a0country and its leaders \u2014 to\u00a0 call for an end to the death penalty<\/a>. In the two weeks following the pope\u2019s\u00a0remarks, five states plan to execute six death-row inmates, a burst\u00a0of lethal activity the country has not seen in more than two years.<\/p>\n
The executions scheduled over the next nine days seem to offer a\u00a0microcosm of the death penalty as it currently exists in the United States. These cases\u00a0touch on a wide range of the issues that surround capital punishment, including lethal injection drugs, mental health and possible racial biases. They are also a reminder that while executions are occurring less frequently than they have in two decades and do not take place in much\u00a0of the country, a handful of states remain bastions of the death penalty\u2026.<\/p>\n
If all of the executions are carried out as scheduled, it will mark the most active period of capital punishment in the United States since June 2013. Over a two-week span that month, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma combined to execute five inmates.<\/p>\n
The United States\u00a0 executes so few inmates<\/a>\u00a0these days that it is rare for the dates to pile up like this. There are exceptions, of course: Last year, after nearly two months without any executions, three lethal injections were carried out in three states\u00a0 during a single 24-hour span<\/a>.<\/p>\n
But most states have, through choice or circumstance, not been active participants in the country\u2019s capital punishment system. While 19 states have abolished the death penalty (a number\u00a0 that includes Nebraska<\/a>, though that repeal may be on hold\u00a0 until it appears on a ballot next year<\/a>), several more retain the death penalty without ever using it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from which the pope could speak to this\u00a0country and its leaders \u2014 to\u00a0call for an end to the death penalty. In the two weeks following the pope\u2019s\u00a0remarks, five states plan to execute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Number is Six<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Number is Six\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-03T17:12:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-01T13:15:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\",\"name\":\"The Number is Six\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-03T17:12:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-01T13:15:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Mark Berman: During his visit to the United States last week, Pope Francis used an\u00a0address before\u00a0Congress \u2014 one of the most high-profile platforms from\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/10\/03\/the-number-is-six\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Number is Six\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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