Stephen Dear has spent the past 10 years waging an uphill battle to abolish the death penalty in the American South. He’s had virtually no help from the region’s powerful evangelical clergy.
But unlike in years past, Dear has new confidence that within six months, he can round up 100 conservative clergy in North Carolina alone to sign an open letter denouncing the current system of capital punishment.
“Even five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought of doing this,” said Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, based in Carrboro, N.C. “It’s easier now to be an abolitionist church leader who opposes the death penalty on biblical grounds and to be accepted for that.”
These are hopeful times for death penalty opponents. On Monday (Jan. 7), the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether death by lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. New Jersey recently became the 14th state to ban executions.