Denunciation of Executions Grows

Religious leaders in the South and around the nation are speaking out against capital punishment more loudly than ever, emboldened by a shift in public opinion and cases of innocence on death row.

The leadership of many Protestant churches, the Roman Catholic Church and Reform and Conservative Judaism have been on record opposing the death penalty for decades, but many in their congregations have not shared their views.

“People in the pews had fairly strong views for the death penalty, so a lot of [clergy] just didn’t want to push the issue for fear of alienating their parishioners,” said Davidson Douglas, a professor of law at the College of William & Mary who has studied the history of religious attitudes toward the death penalty. “I think the religious groups, frankly, didn’t make this a high priority. There weren’t many sermons about it.”

But improved DNA testing has proved that some capital convictions were mistakes, shifting public opinion and increasing churches’ activism.

Last month in Virginia, which has the second-highest rate of executions after Texas, 33 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders released a statement calling on the state General Assembly to abolish capital punishment. The investigative arm of the General Assembly is examining how the death penalty is applied in the state.

In North Carolina, the People of Faith Against the Death Penalty launched a statewide campaign last year to get the state to put capital punishment on hold, and a legislative commission is studying the administration of the death penalty.

And in Mississippi last month, religious leaders testified before a legislative committee, asking lawmakers to put the death penalty on hold.