The Tennessee Supreme Court has set four execution dates for individuals on Tennessee’s death row. As Christians and Tennesseans, we have grave concerns about this action. Given the current reality of our state’s death penalty system, the lack of transparency in the execution protocol, and our shared convictions regarding the sanctity of human life and the proper function of state power, we are led to call for a continued halt to all executions in Tennessee. In this statement, we summarize the scriptural basis for our moral convictions and our deep concerns about capital punishment in our state.
Christian scripture affirms the sacred dignity of human beings as created in “the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). As a foundational principle of Christian ethics, this inviolable dignity of human persons undergirds the Bible’s complex witness regarding the issue of capital punishment (Proverbs 14:31; James 3:9-10). Some Old Testament passages permitted or required capital punishment for grave offenses against human dignity, such as murder and other serious violations of vulnerable life (Genesis 9:5-6; Exodus 21:12-16; Leviticus 24:17-20; Numbers 35:16-18; Deuteronomy 22:25-27). The Mosaic Law also placed careful limits on when and how capital punishment could be enacted, most notably by requiring absolute certainty of the perpetrator’s guilt as established by the positive testimony of multiple eyewitnesses (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6). It is important to note that numerous Old Testament stories display God’s mercy in preserving the lives of individuals who were guilty of grave capital offenses (see Genesis 4:1-16; 2 Samuel 12:13; 1 Kings 21:28-29). These stories display the general principle that God’s justice is gracious and redemptive. He desires the restoration of sinners rather than their destruction, as the prophet Ezekiel states: “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).
For Christians, these Old Testament scriptures must be read in the light of Jesus Christ, who is God’s clearest self-revelation to humanity and who inaugurates a radical new era in the history of God’s redeeming action (Hebrews 1:1-4; John 1:17-18; Romans 10:4; Colossians 2:17). Jesus famously calls his disciples to a lifestyle of mercy and love that goes far beyond the strict retributive justice of the Mosaic Law, saying: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:38-39). Christ’s apostles acknowledge an ongoing role for civil authorities who use coercive power to protect the vulnerable by restraining evil, but this limited authority is subject to God’s higher moral law, which has received its fullest expression in the person of Jesus (Romans 13:1-4; 1 Peter 2:13-14; Matthew 5:17).
Two stories from the gospels are particularly relevant for any discussion of Christ and capital punishment. In the first of these stories, a group of religious leaders brings Jesus an adulterer, saying, “in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” (John 8:5). Jesus neither declares the woman innocent nor questions the scribes’ interpretation of the Mosaic Law. Rather, he states: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). After the crowd disperses, Jesus says to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11). The story beautifully illustrates the restorative justice of Jesus, which seeks to redeem sinners rather than giving them what they deserve. The second crucial story–Christ’s wrongful execution at the command of Pontius Pilate–reveals his merciful justice even more clearly. Jesus was “killed by the hands of lawless men” who were acting in the name of the law (Acts 2:23). As the first Christians came to understand, Christ on the cross is the immortal God tasting death on behalf of sinners who deserved to die (Hebrews 2:9; Acts 20:28; Romans 6:23). The gospel declares that the innocent God was condemned so that guilty humans could be pardoned, and every Christian rejoices to be set free from a well-earned sentence of eternal death (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
For these reasons, many Christians oppose capital punishment in favor of more merciful and restorative approaches to civil justice, while others argue that it should only be applied in extreme cases and where there is absolute certainty of guilt. (1) Christians are aware that human frailty often leads to miscarriages of justice, as in Pilate’s willful complicity in the wrongful execution of Jesus. And Christian views of justice are forever shaped by our experience of grace and redemption. Thus, we rejoice to echo the words of James 2:13: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Tennessee’s past and present practice of capital punishment is complicit in a deeply troubling national history of unjust and inequitable application of the death penalty. Perhaps the gravest miscarriage of justice is to execute someone who is innocent, but in the last 50 years, 200 individuals formerly on death row in the United States have been exonerated of all charges related to the wrongful convictions that had put them on death row, including at least 3 wrongfully-convicted individuals in the state of Tennessee. (2) Our criminal justice system is inherently fallible, and our laws demand a standard of evidence that is much lower than those required by the Mosaic Law. It was thus unsurprising when a cohort of statisticians published a seminal article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimating that the wrongful-conviction rate for death-row inmates in the United States is 4.1 percent. (3) The painful reality is that executing innocent people is an inherent part of the capital punishment system in our nation. As Christians who worship an executed Savior, we are confronted with a serious moral query: What is the number of innocent people we are willing to kill in order to maintain our practice of capital punishment? We cannot imagine that Jesus would want us to sacrifice even one innocent life to preserve such a system.
A second serious issue is the well-documented national trend of racial inequity in sentencing for capital cases. In the modern era, when executions have been carried out exclusively for murder, 75 percent of the cases involve the murder of white victims, even though about half of all homicide victims in America are black. (4) The death penalty in Tennessee is also geographically arbitrary, meaning the same crimes may receive very different penalties depending on the county in which the crime occurs. In Tennessee, just four counties—Shelby, Davidson, Knox, and Hamilton—account for 70% of Tennessee’s death row. Shelby County alone accounts for 49%. While Davidson County, the second largest county after Shelby, only accounts for 8.5%. Tennessee’s rural counties are paying to maintain the death penalty used mostly by urban areas. (5)
Serious concerns about innocence and inequity are multiplied by other factors. For example, one of the most common reasons stated for continuing capital punishment is to preserve life by deterring violent crime, but the available data suggests that in the United States the death penalty has proved ineffective as a deterrent. And in 2020, only 50% of murders in the U.S. were solved. (6) This reality leaves surviving families of murder victims fearful and without the finality that they need. Taxpayer dollars would be better spent solving more of these cases than pursuing the death penalty for those already incarcerated.
Due to our moral convictions and our grave concerns about the past and present realities of Tennessee’s criminal justice system, we are calling for no executions in our state. This call is an expression of our desire to uphold a humane and Christian vision of justice, which honors the sacred dignity of all people. We long to see the mercy, compassion, equity, and justice of God reflected in public policies that promote public safety, support for those who experience harm, and flourishing for all Tennesseans.
Death Row Exoneree,
Witness to Innocence
Founder, Project Prison Music
Riverbend Prison Ministry
Board Chairman, Men of Valor
Founder, CEO & President,
SageSpring Wealth Partners
Founder/Managing Partner,
Camel Express Car Wash
CEO, SageSpring Private Wealth
West End
Retired Broadcaster
Riverbend Prison Ministry
Death Row Survivor,
Witness to Innocence
Partner,
SageSpring Wealth Partners
CEO,
StoryBrand
Senior Pastor, Franklin Community Church
Business Owner
Church of the City
Co-Founder, Truth's Table
Reverend,
Healthy Leaders, Inc.
Founder/Co-Owner,
Evergreen Real Estate
President, Ambassador Literary
1) The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that “no matter how serious the crime that has been committed, the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person.” See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,“Letter to the Bishops Regarding the New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty.” Vatican.Va. June 21, 2018. Among Protestant churches, there remains a diversity of opinions, with some holding that capital punishment should be abolished, while others believe it is permissible or necessary in extreme circumstances where there is absolute certainty of guilt. For a concise and helpful summary of current Christian perspectives, see Dan Van Ness, “The Death Penalty.” Prison Fellowship. Accessed August 19, 2022.
2) Death Penalty Information Center, “Innocence.” Death Penalty Information Center. Accessed March 19, 2025.
3) Samuel R. Gross, Barbara O’Brien, Chen Hu, and Edward H. Kennedy. “Rate of false conviction of criminal defendants who are sentenced to death.” PNAS. April 18, 2014.
4) Death Penalty Information Center. “Biases & Vulnerabilities: Race.” Death Penalty Information Center. April 16, 2025.
5) Tennessee Department of Correction, “Death Row Offenders.” Tennessee Department of Correction. Accessed March 19, 2025.
6) The Marshall Project, “As Murders Spiked, Police Solved About Half in 2020.” The Marshall Project. January 12, 2022.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.