Death penalty advocates reframe biblical texts to justify state execution.

Evidence

His linguistic justification was that according to Hebrew scholars, the commandment “Thou shall not kill” should have been translated as “Thou shalt not murder.” The Old Testa-ment, he noted, also requires “an eye for an eye” (Reagan, 1967). In response to Christian ministers who tolled bells as the time for execution neared, Reagan replied, “If you toll your bells every time somebody is murdered, I won’t mind if you do it every time the state executes a killer” (Ashcroft, 1998). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1846

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to moral disengagement via euphemistic labeling and moral justification of the state as executioner — Bandura’s core framework of sanitizing lethal action.
• CANDY: Reagan’s retort to protesting clergy is a compact, quotable moment — good dinner-party material.