A CALL TO PEOPLE OF FAITH FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

Updated: OCT/26/99

This is a letter inviting you, as a religious leader and person of faith, to step forward publicly to oppose the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

We think you already know about Mumia’s case, and his own life-and-death struggle to resist Pennsylvania authorities’ plans to execute him for the 1981 shooting death of a Philadelphia policeman. All of his State appeals have been exhausted, and his case heads into the Federal courts this October. Even before his federal petition could be filed, Gov. Tom Ridge has signed a death warrant, scheduling a December 2 execution date. Even though Mumia will certainly receive a stay for this date, this is the crucial year for him.

It is a crucial case for all of us. The struggle for Mumia’s life as become an epicenter of many movements trying to shake free from the pervasive human rights violations that Amnesty International now documents as plaguing the entire United States (police brutality, runaway prison-building, 3000+ on death row, harassment of asylum seekers, and U.S. marketing of weaponry throughout the world).

It is time for people of faith, as one body, to step forward and say No to this execution. We appeal to you from our different faith traditions, but unified around our shared struggle for justice and a truly comprehensive peace.

Join with the growing number of us who are saying a public No to the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. You may join with us based on any one or more of the following reasons.

__ You’ve researched the case and believe him innocent.

__ You don’t know about his innocence, but believe the original

trial so inadequate that he needs a new trial.

__ You believe Mumia was framed in the adversarial context of racist politics during Mayor Frank Rizzo’s regime in Philadelphia..

__ You are against execution because of a general opposition to the death penalty.

__ You cannot tolerate losing Mumia, this internationally-acclaimed author and faithful "voice of the voiceless."

Even if you can check only one, please join us. Make your opposition known. Fill out the enclosed coupon and send it back, so that we can quickly build a broad coalition of people of faith and spirit who will not let this execution go down on our watch.

Signers* (as of today) -
Desmund M. Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus of Capetown
Anglican Church, South Africa

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Roman Catholic Church
Detroit, Michigan

Professor Cornel West
Harvard University
Afro-American Studies

Professor James Cone
African Methodist Episocopal
Union Theological Seminary

Rabbi Rebecca Alpert
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Benjamin Green
Abiding Truth Ministries
Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III
The Abyssinian Baptist Church, Pastor
NewYork, NY

Dr. Kathleen Kenney
Associate Director
Office of Justice and Peace
Catholic Diocese of Richmond, VA

Rabbi Rolando Matalon
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
New York City

Rev. John Collins
United Methodist Church
New York City

Rev. Dr. Mark L. Taylor
Presbyterian Church, USA
Professor, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. S. Michael Yasutake, Executive Director
Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project
Racial Justice Working Group,
National Council of Churches

Dr. Suzanne Ross
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
New York City

Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry
President, The United Church of Christ
Cleveland, OH

Bishop. George W. Bashore
The United Methodist Church
Cranberry Township, PA

Sister Patricia Kelly, OCD
Carmelite Monastery
Reno, Nevada

Pat Clark, CDP
American Friends Service Committee
Philadelphia, PA

William R. Herzog II
Dean of the Faculty and
Professor of New Testament Interpretation
Colgate Rochester Divinity School

Rev. Dr. Warren D. Williams
Atonement Church
Racine, WI

Sister Elizabeth Gnam, Chaplain
New Jersey State Prison
Trenton, NJ

Professor Ada Maria Isazi-Diaz
Professor of Christian Ethics and Theology
Drew University

Ramona Africa and Pam Africa
The MOVE Organization

Rev. Jeffrey S. Spener
United Church of Christ
Carnation, WA

Professor Carter Heyward
Episcopal Church
Episcopal Divinity School

The Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold, III
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
New York, NY

Rev. Jeane Audrey Powers
The United Methodist Church
Minneapolis, MN

Rev. Rebecca J. Jimenez
Campus Minister
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN

Theodore "Lolo" Beaubrun
Boukman Eksperyans,
Port au Prince, Haiti

Rev. Christopher P. Ney
United Church of Christ
War Resisters League
New York, NY

Father Paul Washington
Church of the Advocate, Emeritus
Philadelphia, PA

The Rev. Eddie Lopez, Jr.
La Resurreccion United Methodist Church
Bronx, New York

Johann Christoph Arnold
The Bruderhof Community

Rev. Angela L. Ying
Associate Director, Seattle Presbytery
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Seattle, WA

Dr. Otto Maduro
Roman Catholic
Professor of World Christianity
Drew University

Professor Dwight N. Hopkins
Baptist
The University of Chicago

Mary Jo Heman, O.P.
Dominican Sisters
Center for Women in Transition
St. Louis, MO

Sister Louise Thayer McEachern SFCC
Jacksonville, FL

Tamara Kohns
Jewish activist
Princeton, New Jersey

Sister Doris Moore, D.C.
Daughers of Charity Services
San Antonio, TX

Rev. Dr. Richard L. Hamm
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
in the U.S. and Canada
General Minister and President

Steve Wiser
The Bruderhof Community

Professor Anthony Pinn
Religion Department
Macalester College

Prof. Darryl M. Trimiew
Ordained Minister, Disciples of Christ
Dean of Black Church Studies
Colgate Rochester Divinity School

Bernice Powell Jackson
United Church of Christ
Exec. Director, Commission for Racial Justice

L. Rex Ehling
Chair, Social Justice Committee
St. Mary Magdalene Parish, Berkeley, CA

Kevin Reilly
Roman Catholic
Princeton Theological Seminary

Newland F. Smith, 3^rd
Episcopal Church
Evanston, IL

Institutions and affiliations for identification purposes only.


COUPON
Name ___________________________________________________________

Religious Affiliation _______________________________________________

and/or Religious Position *___________________________________________

Mailing Address __________________________________________________

Phone __________________________ Fax _____________________________

Email ____________________________________________________________

Religious Affiliation and Position are given for identification purposes only.

Return to Mark Taylor, c/o Princeton Theological Seminary, or mail to 64 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540. Phone: (609) 497-7918. Fax: (609) 497-7728.