Father Phillip Reaves, director of the Office of Prison Ministry, delivered a letter Aug. 21 to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office signed by 40 faith leaders around Arkansas, to oppose the use of nitrogen gas to kill death row inmates.
Catholic leaders signing the letter included Bishop Antony B. Taylor, Alisa Dixon, a cantor and lector at the Cathedral of St. Andrew; Father Salvador Marquez-Munoz, pastor of St. Mary Church in Siloam Springs; and Father Warren Harvey, a hospital chaplain in Little Rock.
The other leaders represented Methodist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Episcopal and Baptist churches as well as Buddhist and Jewish congregations.
Before delivering the letter, Father Reaves joined six other Christian pastors from Central Arkansas in a press conference in the Old Supreme Court Room at the State Capitol in Little Rock.
On March 18, Sanders signed a bill into law to allow a new method of executions since drugs for lethal injections are harder to obtain. The law went into effect Aug. 5. Four other states — Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi — have similar laws.
In the letter to Sanders, the faith leaders asked her to look at nitrogen asphyxiation as “torture.” They encouraged her to invest in more ways to help victims and keep communities safe instead of the death penalty.
“We are especially concerned about the proposed method of gas asphyxiation, whether through the use of masks or any form of gas chamber. We implore you to look at the recent scientific study and eyewitness accounts of gas executions to ensure our state does not engage in torture,” the letter stated. “Arkansas has the means of keeping society safe without violating the inherent human dignity of every person. We need to do more to help victims in the aftermath of tragedy by providing emotional and financial support and services that help promote healing and recovery… It also denies an opportunity for redemption and healing and drains resources that could be better used serving all victims and preventing crime in the first place. Resources would be better spent preventing child abuse, providing mental health care and substance abuse treatment, and by investing in community safety programs.”
The leaders also urged her not to “restart” executions, which haven’t happened in the state since 2017. No capital murder trials have resulted in a death sentence since 2018, according to Rev. Jacqui Buschor, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Little Rock.
While the leaders opposed the death penalty in general, they were particularly troubled by the governor’s approval of gas asphyxiation as a new way to execute death row inmates.
“The innate human dignity is also stated by our founding fathers,” Father Reaves said. “The Declaration of Independence declares the dignity of every person when it articulates we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Since we do not earn this dignity, nor accept or reject it, it cannot be lost.”
Father Reaves noted that Pope Francis approved changes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to make the death penalty inadmissible in all cases.
“Gov. Sanders, I appeal to you to never use this offense against humanity in the name of correction,” Father Reaves said.
Father Reaves said the state should believe in the power of redemption, noting that three former Arkansas death row inmates graduated from a seminary program in recent years.
“These three men who once were considered worthless and disposable are now ministering to inmates in ways that chaplains cannot,” he said.
Sanders’ spokesman Sam Dubke said Aug. 22, “Gov. Sanders will be thoughtful and deliberative with each individual case as she works to hold criminals accountable and enforce Arkansas law.”