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Photo by Amy Forbus, Arkansas United Methodist
Kathleen McMurray
The Rev. Kathleen McMurray joins a Good Friday vigil at the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock to protest planned executions of seven inmates. McMurray is associate pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Conway, Ark.
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Photo by Amy Forbus, Arkansas United Methodist
Jay Clark
United Methodist pastor Jay Clark leads a crowd at the Arkansas Capitol in singing “This Little Light of Mine,” during a vigil to protest planned state executions. Clark is from Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church and chair of the Arkansas Conference Board of Church and Society.
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Photo by Amy Forbus, Arkansas United Methodist
Maxine Allen
The Rev. Maxine Allen (center) joins death penalty protesters at the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock. Allen is assistant director for mission field engagement for the Arkansas Conference and a board member of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
As the state of Arkansas continued legal battles to move ahead with a series of executions that had been scheduled to begin on Easter Monday, United Methodist clergy were among those speaking out against the “unprecedented” pace of executing seven men by April 27.
“The juxtaposition of Easter Sunday with ‘Execution Monday’ has cast a dark cloud over our state,” said the Rev. Britt Skarda.
Skarda, pastor of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, is one of several United Methodists speaking out against the execution plan that was announced by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson the week of Ash Wednesday.
A federal judge issued stays for each of the inmates and a state court judge blocked prison officials from using a paralyzing drug until he could determine whether Arkansas obtained it properly, but Arkansas has appealed and also hoped to dissolve a separate stay for Bruce Earl Ward issued by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Even with the stays in place and questions before a number of courts, executions are still possible April 17 depending on the outcome of legal battles.
No other state has killed so many people since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Arkansas has not had an execution since 2005.
Hutchinson said he scheduled the executions because one of the drugs in the lethal injection cocktail the state uses expires at the end of April. He signed the orders on Feb. 27 for eight executions; however, one of the men had his execution stayed after the state parole board recommended life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In a statement to National Public Radio, Hutchinson said, “In order to fulfill my duty as governor, which is to carry out the lawful sentence imposed by a jury, it is necessary to schedule the executions prior to the expiration of that drug.”
Hutchinson acknowledged he was “uneasy” about the timing of the executions.
United Methodist clergy noted the timing of the executions during the Easter season.
“I was appalled that our governor announced these executions the week of Ash Wednesday and that they would be carried out the two weeks after Christians celebrate life through the risen Christ,” said the Rev. Jay Clark, an associate pastor at Pulaski Heights.
The Rev. David Freeman, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Little Rock, spoke about the executions from the pulpit on Palm Sunday, April 9.
“I simply said that just as Jesus’ palm parade was a form of political protest, we should exercise our own form and stand against these executions. I said that our state scheduling eight and thankfully now seven executions in the 11 days after Easter seems eerily similar to Pilate’s scheduling executions during the Passover to quell any rebellions.”
The Rev. Michelle J. Morris, pastor at Wesley and Cavanaugh United Methodist churches in Fort Smith, writing in a blog, said the dates of the executions “feel a little like the leaders and soldiers who mocked Jesus.
“It feels a little like the state is saying, ‘Oh, you believe in the resurrection? In forgiveness of sins? Well, watch this. Where’s your forgiveness and resurrection now, huh?’ ”
Since 1956, The United Methodist Church has opposed the death penalty.
Morris said she opposes the death penalty for four reasons: innocent people are executed; people are asked to kill other people; people are denied an opportunity for repentance, and Jesus never chose retaliation.
“I am called to follow Jesus, to try to model my life after his,” she said. “He didn’t face the cross, then come back resurrected and start putting people to death for what they did to him.”
The Rev. Steve Copley, chair of the board of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and a United Methodist pastor, said a letter signed by clergy from several denominations asked Hutchinson to stop the proposed executions.
A number of vigils, including one on the steps of the state capitol on Good Friday, have been scheduled and held in the days leading up to the April 17 executions. United Methodists, clergy and lay, attended the Good Friday event.
The seven men set to die are Don William Davis, Stacey Eugene Johnson, Jack Harold Jones, Ledell Lee, Bruce Earl Ward, Kenneth D. Williams and Marcel W. Williams. Davis and Ward are due to be executed on April 17, followed by Johnson and Lee on April 20, Marcel W. Williams and Jones on April 24 and Kenneth D. Williams on April 27. An additional inmate, Jason F. McGehee, had his execution stayed.
“I just feel that it is not our job to decide who lives and who dies,” said Clark. “We discredit God’s redemptive power when we take a life into our own hands.
“As a United Methodist, I have heard all of my life about our unique view of grace and why grace is important — it’s time for United Methodists of Arkansas to practice what we preach.”
Kathy L. Gilbert is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service.