Jesus was executed by the state, activist reminds Christians
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A UMNS photo
courtesy of Scott Langley
In North Carolina, Scott Langley is a leader and spokesman for the abolition of the death penalty.
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North Carolina, Scott Langley is a leader and spokesman for the
abolition of the death penalty. The son of an ordained United Methodist
clergywomen, Langley focuses his energy in a state that ranks sixth in
the number of people put to death since 1976 and the number of people on
death row. The year 2006 marks the 50-year anniversary of the 1956
Methodist General Conference in Minneapolis where delegates approved a
statement condemning the death penalty for inclusion in the
denomination's Social Creed. A UMNS photo courtesy of Scott Langley.
Photo #061207. Accompanies UMNS story #621 10/19/06 |
Oct. 19, 2006
A UMNS Report
By Tom McAnally*
Christians, of all people, should understand the wrongness of the death
penalty, says Scott Langley, a leader of the effort to abolish the death
penalty in North Carolina. After all, he says, Jesus was executed by
the state.
Langley's passion for seeking the abolition of the death penalty was
shaped by his upbringing in a United Methodist home in Texas. His
mother, Mary, is an ordained United Methodist clergywoman.
Texas, first in executions
"Growing up in the church I was exposed to Scripture and the stories of
Jesus," he says. "It was clear to me that Jesus taught us and showed us
to love our enemies and to do unto others. I saw a great contrast in
those teachings and what was happening as the state executed prisoners."
Texas ranks first among states in the number of executions since the
death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and second, behind California, in
the number of people now on death row.
"If you believe in Jesus and follow him then you must know that he was
executed," Langley continues. "How can you avoid or ignore the death
penalty issue?"
Not long after his 1999 graduation from Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, Langley, a photographer, was changed forever when he went to
the Texas state prison in Huntsville. There he witnessed Lois Robison
walking the sidewalk, screaming, as her son was being executed inside.
Eighteen months earlier Larry, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had killed and
mutilated his roommate and four neighbors in Fort Worth, where Langley
was born and grew up.
Langley had his camera in the car but couldn't bring himself to retrieve
it to capture her pain and anguish. Since then he has become one of the
most visible faces of the anti-death-penalty movement.
Protests in North Carolina
Langley now lives with his wife, Sheila Stumpf, in Siler City, a small
community near Chapel Hill, N.C. They are expecting their first child
this month. They and several others live in a house that provides
shelter for those in immediate need, particularly the homeless.
Langley primarily focuses his energies on the death penalty in a state
that ranks sixth in the number of people put to death since 1976 and the
number of people on death row.
For months, Langley and other protestors have been trespassing in the
driveway of North Carolina's Central Prison in Raleigh. At least eight
people have been arrested in the group's failed attempts to disrupt the
last four executions. Langley has been arrested 18 times in the past two
years.
Going to jail is not just the price one pays for acting on their
convictions, Langley says. "It's a means of identifying with families
who suffer at the hands of the legal system."
"I can't just stand on the corner, knowing the exact time and location
when a human life is going to be taken, without doing everything I can
to try to prevent it from happening," he says. "That's our
responsibility as Christians and as people of dignity. It is not enough
to complain that this happens. We must take responsibility."
God's creatures
Langley acknowledges that most death row inmates are guilty, but that
doesn't matter to him. "They are still creatures of God and human
beings. Everyone can change his life. Anyone can be redeemed."
Langley expresses optimism when he points to statistics showing the
decline in executions and the number of death sentences in recent years.
He also believes that public opinion is changing, though slowly, to
oppose the death penalty. He's also pleased with a U.S. Supreme Court
decision prohibiting the execution of individuals under the age of 17.
While not admitting to pessimism, he does express frustration at dealing
with individuals who are enthusiastic about the death penalty. "Their
attitudes seem fueled by revenge, hatred and anger. To encounter that is
disappointing." Like others in the abolitionist movement, he
acknowledges that it takes time to get somebody "from a place of
frustration and hate to a place of forgiveness and love."
Speaking recently at United Methodist-related Duke University in Durham,
N.C., Langley spoke out against the hypocrisy in today's culture.
"There is a disconnect between the way we celebrate and glorify violence
on television, movies, and music, and in Iraq, and then condemn someone
to death for committing a violent act in our own neighborhood," he
says. "We can't say it's okay to eat popcorn while watching a violent
movie and then go home and say violence is bad and we are going to
punish criminals. We need a consistent, ethical way of being."
*McAnally, retired director of United Methodist News Service, lives in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Death penalty is personal for brothers
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Criminal justice system broken, says volunteer chaplain
Close Up: The death penalty - what would Jesus do?
Resources
Langley Creations
Death penalty
United Methodists Against the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
Innocence Project
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