Plans for the military's first execution by firing squad since World War II have split religious leaders, whose voices have been elevated in Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeth's increasingly spiritual military.
Nidal Hassan, a former Army psychiatrist, is scheduled to face a firing squad in December at Fort Hood, Texas. Hassan killed 13 people and injured 32 in a 2009 shooting at the base. Hassan was shot by security officers, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Hegseth told Real America's Voice, a right-wing streaming network, the reasoning behind the execution.
"It's going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad. It hasn't been since World War II that we've done that," he said. "Well, I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was win."
Hegseth was referring to the execution of Private Eddie Slovik for desertion, though it did not take place on American soil, but in France. The military executed him in secret, and it wasn't until years later that a journalist made the act public.
But in the decades after World War II, firing squads have become less common. The only military execution since then was the 1961 hanging of Private John Bennett for the rape and attempted murder of an Austrian girl.
Of the 27 states with capital punishment, five still utilize firing squads. Texas is not one of them, but the execution will take place under federal military jurisdiction, not state law.
It's a method that Hegseth and allies have embraced.
"No-brainer—execution by firing squad," Hegseth said. "It was a radical Islamist terror attack."
Hegseth's statements about the execution come at the same time that he's been championing a more religious military. His campaign to recruit new troops features Bible verses, and he's reformed the chaplain corps to more aggressively promote religion.
But some faith leaders see an execution by firing squad as contrary to their religion.
Archbishop of the military services Timothy Broglio has asked Catholic soldiers to not be a part of the execution.
"I'm concerned about the moral injury that could possibly traumatize anyone participating in a firing squad," he said. "My motivation for asking Catholics not to participate stems from the teaching of the Catholic Church, which is that capital punishment is not permitted, is not an acceptable solution."
Broglio presided over and preached at the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in the attack.
Hegseth had originally announced that the execution would be livestreamed. President Trump later cancelled that plan. But Broglio says Catholic leaders still remain opposed. The Pope also spoke out against the death penalty after news of the execution was announced.
"I hope that the outcry that has been raised, that even the whole notion of executing a man in a wheelchair by a firing squad, I think that would probably repel more people than it would encourage," Broglio said.
Other religious leaders, though, are endorsing the execution.
Hegseth's own denomination - The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or the CREC - supports the death penalty.
Jeff Ripple, the pastor of a CREC church in Taylor, Texas, says his support for capital punishment comes from the Old Testament and the need for justice.
"I think an execution should be should be quick and as painless as possible, which is why we don't torture people to death. And so, death by firing squad, death by hanging, death by the electric chair. We have used all of those legally," he said.
Ripple says murder can be committed only against an innocent person, so the soldiers in the execution are not committing a sin.
"I would encourage them that they are not breaking a commandment of God, but they are under their own authority, under the authority of their commanders, carrying out those orders justly," he said.
Some chaplains say these kinds of debates are becoming more common in the military - not just about this execution, but about the broader morality of warfare.
"In the military school environments that I've been teaching in, more and more young people want to spend more and more time talking about this," said Chaplain Dovid Grossman, who leads the Institute of Jewish Chaplaincy.
Grossman has led several services for the Fort Hood Jewish community during religious holidays. He supports troops having discussions to find their own moral compass.
"Part of my responsibility is to teach ethics in the military environment, and so that's a very important part to understand for warriors, to understand the ethics part because at the end of the day, we proved with the Nuremberg trials that following orders is no excuse," he said.
Grossman encourages troops to balance the need for justice with the value of human life and come to their own conclusion.
With the execution less than one month away, the Pentagon did not respond to a request for additional details about how it will choose the members of the firing squad.
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.
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