Faith and Death Penalty

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn employed faith as well as reason in his recent decision to strike down the death penalty in his state. The New York Times began its article this way:

Early on the morning of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent’s season of penitence, Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois went through some final, solitary rumination. For much of his political career, he had supported capital punishment, albeit with reservations, even debating it at the dinner table with his mother. Now a legislative bill abolishing it was waiting for his signature, or his veto.

The article unfolds some history as well as the governor's process of deciding.