October 19, 1999

The impending Tennessee executions are counter to the Episcopal Church’s position on capital punishment. Our Church, through action of several of its General Conventions, has consistently opposed capital punishment.

Former Presiding Bishop Edmund Browning eloquently stated the Church’s position, “The taking of a human life diminishes us as a people. We all hate the crime of a person who would take another’s life. But in using the death penalty we end up committing the very act we found so repugnant in the first place. And thus we are diminished, both in the sight of God and one another.

“The taking of a human life, for whatever reason is an affront to God. The Christian community affirms that all people are made in the image of God, thus making all people holy. The death penalty is an assault on God’s purposes in creation.”

We, the undersigned Episcopal clergy in Southeast Tennessee, urge you to exercise your power to prevent the executions of Mr. Coe and Mr. Workman.

The Rev. David R. Hackett

[This letter has been sent to Tennesseee Governor Don Sundquist by the Rev. David Hackett and 14 other Chattanooga-area Episcopal clergy.