Recently, a close friend e-mailed a copy of the powerful and moving eulogy that conservative author and activist David Horowitz delivered at a celebration for his daughter, Sarah, who passed away earlier this year. While many are aware of actor Mike Farrell's work as president of Death Penalty Focus and Sister Helen Prejean and her decades of anti-death penalty activism, few know about Sarah Horowitz.  

Around the same time I received Horowitz's remarkable eulogy, I also received a copy of a report on the death penalty that was produced by the Austin-based Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.  

My story about Sarah Horowitz's anti-death penalty activism and the state of the death penalty as we leave 2008 is at Religion Dispatches.

 "Death Penalty, Debated (Dedicated to the memory of Sarah Horowitz) starts out like this:

The death penalty may seem like a distant and abstract issue for people who are threatened by layoffs or unable to make their house payment or pay the rent. However, while the country is largely focused on daunting economic problems, questions about social justice and the death penalty are still very much with us. And those committed to its abolition continue to press their cause.  

A "remarkable person who led an extraordinary life," [Sarah Horowitz] had a long list of accomplishments: advanced degrees, an undying commitment to peace, social justice and helping the disadvantaged, a strong connection to her Jewish faith, and a willingness to put her convictions to the test, whether by working in a village in El Salvador or walking the snowy streets of Iowa for then-Senator Barack Obama during the Democratic Party primaries.  

The rest of the story can be found by going to ReligionDispatches.org and clicking on the Archive icon.

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