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Why the US should not livestream Nidal Hasan’s execution · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Article Podcast from Denison Forum.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Thursday, October 15th, 2026.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is an automated reading of today's Daily Article, authored by Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's article is titled, why the US should not livestream Nudal Hassan's execution.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: On November 5th, 2009, an army psychiatrist named Nidal Hassan entered the soldier readiness processing center at Fort Hood, Texas.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: He bowed his head in prayer, shouted Allah Hu Akbar, then opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: He killed 14 people among them a pregnant woman and her unborn child and wounded another 32.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Hassan was apprehended after a firefight that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: At his court martial, he admitted to the murders, stating that he had been on the wrong side of America's war on Islam, and that he was trying to establish the perfect religion of Almighty God, a supreme on the land despite the disbelievers hatred for it.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: On August 28th, 2013, he was sentenced to death following court martial panel deliberations that lasted less than two hours.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth announced that Hassan would be executed on December 3 by firing squad, and that the event would be live-streamed.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, administration officials are said to be raising concerns about making the execution public, and a large group of retired high-ranking military officials is pressing the government to cancel its live-stream plans.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: My purpose today is not to debate the morality of the death penalty, a subject Dr. Ryan Denison discussed in depth recently in the focus.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nor is it to examine the propriety of utilizing a firing squad to carry out such a sentence, as others are focusing on its effectiveness in contrast with lethal injections.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, I want to think with you about the wisdom of live streaming Hassan's execution.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: for reasons that transcend the event, and apply to our cultural engagement as followers of Jesus.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: In his recent free press article, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Charles Fain Laman stated that Hassan deserves to die for his massacre of 14 people, but warns that turning his execution into online content would mock his victims and hand the death penalty's critics their best argument.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: He writes, putting someone to death is a serious affair
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The tone matters tremendously.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are we passing a solemn judgment or reveling in an act of violence?
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: He warns that live streaming Hassan's execution is likely to produce the latter, referencing the horrific video of Charlie Kirk's murder, and the ways it has become the subject of jokes, memes, and TikTok remixes.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: In addition to the issue of propriety, I have a foundational concern rooted in Hassan's motive behind the massacre he perpetrated.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here I agree with the Wall Street Journal editorial board's assessment.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Quote, Mr. Hassan and his ilk understand they are likely to die.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: That is part of their fevered calculation.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: They imagine that by their violence they will contribute to the bloody caliphate they hope to build on earth.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The public death by firing squad would give Mr. Hassan that publicity in perpetuity.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: It would assist the cult of death promoted by the perversion of Islam, seeking to recruit more suicide attackers.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Far from deterring jihadists, it would serve as a YouTube recruiting video.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: End quote.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Martyrdom to defend Islam from its western enemies is a high aspiration for jihadists.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: The more public their deaths, the greater the glory they believe they bring to a law and to their cause.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we wish to deter such violence against Americans, we need to understand its root causes.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: The less publicity Hassan receives for his crimes, the better for the rest of us.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: As you and I seek to impact our culture for Christ, today's conversation points to three principles that transcend the subject at hand.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, we need to understand the worldview of those we are called to influence.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason Paul quoted Greek philosophers when engaging Greek philosophers and Hebrew scriptures when engaging Hebrew audiences.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone has a set of beliefs regarding God.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Ignoring them while sharing the gospel is like preaching in English to people who speak only Russian.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Two, Jihadists genuinely believe murdering Americans is a defense of Islam required by the Quran.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a spiritual and ideological battle before it is anything else.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: praying daily for spiritual awakening in the Muslim world is therefore foundational to our ongoing conflict with Iran, its proxies, and other jihadists around the world.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Three, God is working to reverse the fall and cause us to join him.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: St. Cyril of Alexandria, circa 376-444, noted that prior to the incarnation, there was just one temple at Jerusalem in which one people, the Israelites, offered their sacrifices.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now that the gospel has gone out around the world, however, there are countless worshipers who honor the universal God with spiritual offerings and fragrant sacrifices.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every Christian is a Theophorus, a God bear, in whom Jesus lives by His Spirit, and through whom He continues His ministry in the world.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every time we meet needs with his love, pray with his passion, and share the gospel with his grace, we hasten the day when wars ceased to the end of the earth, and the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: The key is to be the change we wish to see by modeling the submission we wish to advance.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: C. S. Lewis observed,
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: In obeying, a rational creature consciously enacts its creaturely role, reverses the act by which we fell, treads Adam's dance backwards and returns.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: How rational will you be today?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the Daily Article podcast.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: For links, scripture references, or to find out more about Denison Forum, visit us at DenisonForm.org or click the link in today's show notes.