With such a tangle of religious and moral opposition, change seems a long way off.
Nor, despite his clearly stated moral opposition to capital punishment, is he advocating a political position.
Something besides moral opposition to the death penalty underlies this European obsession.
Speaking to journalists in Aberdeen, he said: "My life has been one of a moral opposition to nuclear weapons.
Consumers might reject food from modified animals, either because of safety fears or moral opposition to genetic tinkering.
Even in upstate communities, lawmakers say the moral opposition to codifying the rights of homosexuals is easing.
Was his moral opposition to Nazism a charade, masking the fact that he was merely trying to defend the British Empire from a rival?
Moral opposition to HPV vaccination is clearest in America, primarily voiced by religious conservatives, whose arguments pivot around sex rather than efficacy, advocating abstinence in lieu of vaccination.
"This move underlines this government's and my own personal moral opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances without impacting legitimate trade".
There are many who bring an understandable passion to the new debate over capital punishment that arises from their fundamental moral opposition to the penalty itself.
