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Embracing the sanctity of human life, United Methodists are speaking out in favor of HB1075/SB837, calling for a repeal of the death penalty in Maryland, and HB1074, which addresses the conscientious objections of employees in the Maryland penitentiary system to capital punishment.

On March 15, the Rev. Rod Miller, director of connectional ministries for the Baltimore-Washington Conference, delivered testimony from Bishop John R. Schol before the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee. In his statement, the bishop reflected upon the official stance of The United Methodist Church, which calls for opposition to “this pernicious practice” and demands its immediate abolishment.

“In our church law, United Methodists emphatically declare that ‘We oppose capital punishment and urge its elimination from all criminal codes.’ We oppose it in our collective respect for the sanctity of human life, which only God can give and only God should take away,” wrote Bishop Schol. (See the complete statement below.)

Those interested in contacting their state legislators about this or other proposed laws can visit www.mdelect.net; click on “Find Your Federal and State Elected Officials.”

For additional information, contact Beth Reilly, the conference advocacy consultant, at . To find out how to take further action online, visit http://ejusa.org/act/MDCASE.

Statement from Bishop John R. Schol
to the Maryland General Assembly
In Support of Repealing the State Death Penalty

Distinguished Members of the State General Assembly:
Thank you for the opportunity to add my voice and the concerned voices of 160,000 United Methodists in Maryland for whom I speak on this issue today. Our denomination across this nation has officially spoken out against the death penalty as a brutal, immoral practice that we believe deeply offends God and violates our Christian faith and the basic, life-affirming values of a civilized society. This state-sanctioned killing of human beings must officially end now, and it must never be resumed.

The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline and Social Principles call upon all clergy and laypeople – 11 million people across the world – to oppose this pernicious practice strongly and to call for its immediate abolishment. In our church law, United Methodists emphatically declare that “we oppose capital punishment and urge its elimination from all criminal codes” (Book of Discipline, Para. 164A). We oppose it in our collective respect for the sanctity of human life, which only God can give and only God should take away.

Only God is a perfect judge of sin, and a judgment that takes human life should never be entrusted to flawed human beings and a demonstrably flawed judicial system. We are painfully aware of the growing numbers of death-row inmates and other prisoners whose innocence has been revealed through DNA testing — most of them racial/ethnic minority persons from urban areas without the resources to properly defend themselves. We are troubled by the egregious mistakes and misdeeds — including crimes of racial and economic discrimination — that continue to put defendants at risk of undeserved punishment and death. Capital punishment leaves no margin for error and thus makes us all inexcusably guilty of this terrible sin each time it occurs.

We know that adjudicating the death penalty leads to a waste of precious time in our court system and shrinking economic resources in our state that could be better spent on rehabilitation, improved law enforcement, and devising a process to restore both victims and perpetrators to justice and wholeness in more effective, meaningful and humane ways.

The death penalty serves no good purpose — not deterrence of crime, nor emotional closure or reconciliation for the families of crime victims. Its only purpose is retribution, and we appeal to you to end it officially now. There is no doubt that a life sentence without parole is the more humane, more sensible, more cost effective, more correctible, and at times even more rehabilitative option for those whose crimes warrant that punishment. To our deep embarrassment as a country, we are one of the very few supposedly civilized nations on this planet that have not yet learned that important lesson.

So I urge you — we the people of The United Methodist Church throughout the state of Maryland urge you — vote now to repeal the death penalty in favor of life sentencing without parole. Only then can we begin to remove this awful sin from our lives and seek the forgiveness of the one who creates, sustains and judges all life and who redeems those among us — even in this very room — who seek to know His loving grace and wisdom. End capital punishment now.

Thank you,

John R. Schol, Bishop
The United Methodist Church
The Washington Area
Baltimore-Washington Conference