Let’s just stone them
By: Don Knebel • August 1, 2025
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith suggests that Indiana stop executing death row inmates by lethal injection. A few bullets from a firing squad, he says, would be “much cheaper.”
Currently, state law stipulates lethal injection as the only means of execution. And the only drug Indiana has been able to acquire for that purpose is pentobarbital, used primarily by veterinarians to euthanize animals.
Beckwith, a minister and self-described Christian nationalist, is right about the cost. Gov. Mike Braun has disclosed that Indiana spent nearly $1.2 million on enough pentobarbital for just four executions.
What’s more, Braun added, the state had to throw away two of those doses – about $600,000 worth – because they expired before they could be used.
However, Beckwith surely knows there’s something even cheaper than a firing squad. Let’s just stone Indiana’s convicted murderers to death. What an elegant solution – pelting the life out of them with chunks of Indiana limestone!
After all, stoning is the only biblically sanctioned method of capital punishment. And, talk about frugality! The rocks could be reused!
While we’re at it, we could also require stoning for other offenders for whom the Bible prescribes it, such as a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:21) or children who turn away from God (Deuteronomy 13:6-10).
Of course I am being sarcastic. What is more serious than the deliberate killing of another human being? Seriously, how can any moral person reduce this decision to a discussion over dollars?
For Christians, all the teachings of Jesus boil down to the simple idea that everyone is created in the image of God and every person deserves respect, even those who commit crimes for which the death penalty may be imposed.
Even those who never attended theology school – Pastor Beckwith comes to mind – must have heard the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). The scribes and Pharisees took her to Jesus. They reminded Jesus that the law of Moses required her to be stoned to death. But Jesus caused them to examine their own consciences, and they all walked away.
It’s a core belief, to ethical non-believers as well as followers of virtually every mainstream religion, that life is sacred and compassion is a virtue. And though our state constitution does not refer specifically to human dignity, several of its provisions support the concept.
In my opinion, any time we determine to take the life of another human being, for whatever reason, we owe that person the most humane and dignified way to die.
We also owe it to the people tasked with the heavy responsibility of carrying out the execution. And we owe it to ourselves, if we aspire to be a just society.
Putting a price tag on the state-authorized taking of a human life devalues us all.
Don Knebel is president of ReCenter Indiana Inc., a nonpartisan group urging Hoosier public officials to recenter on the priorities of the people.