Religious leaders unite in plea to abolish death penalty
By Carolyn Peirce
Examiner Staff Writer 1/14/09

http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/local/ ... faith.html

Religious leaders from across the state put their differing faiths aside Tuesday to make a unified plea to lawmakers to abolish the death penalty during the legislative session that begins today.
The landmark formation of the Interfaith Coalition to End the Death Penalty brought together leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations who acknowledged a common belief in "the sanctity of life and forgiveness."

The coalition members, who claim to represent nearly 3 million Maryland residents, met at First and St. Stephen's United Church of Christ in Towson to sign a letter urging Gov. Martin O'Malley to repeal the "immoral and unjust" death penalty.

"Life has been entrusted to us by God," said the Rev. Denis Madden, who spoke on behalf of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

"When one deliberately takes away the life of another, for any cause, one moves against the Creator."

Madden said he joined the coalition after serving on the state's capital punishment commission that recommended in December that lawmakers ban executions because of racial and jurisdictional disparities.

But coalition members focused Tuesday on a moral obligation to oppose the death penalty and echoed Madden's message to leave matters of life and death in God's hands.

"No man has the power to take a life when he does not have the power to give life," said Imam Anees Abdul Rahim, of the Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore.

With his booming voice reverberating through the church, Rahim closed his powerful address with a warning to lawmakers.

"Be humble and be cautious when making decisions about taking the life of a human being," he said.

Coalition members suggested sentences of life in prison without parole and better rehabilitative programs, noting that executions can't be undone if new evidence becomes available.

And for families of murder victims, their advice was to work toward forgiveness.

"Taking the life of another person will never take away the pain or bring their loved one back," said Rabbi Steven Fink, president of the Baltimore Board of Rabbis.

"Revenge is empty ... channel that grief into doing good for others."

There's been a de facto moratorium on executions since December 2006, when the state's highest court ruled that execution protocols weren't properly approved.

The final decision rests with the General Assembly, where a Senate panel previously voted against a repeal, preventing it from reaching the chamber floor for a vote.

Five men are currently on death row in Maryland.


cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com