A friend in Christ circulated the following on Wilton Gregory:
Today I was reading about a possible stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis. Without getting into if he is innocent or guilty, the evidence against him, etc. something else stuck out as being quite odd to me. It turns out that Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta had already written on behalf of the man who was convicted by a jury of 12 of his peers and possibly faces the death penalty as soon as next week. But Archbishop Gregory did this over a year ago. He wrote to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on 7 June 2007. That letter can be viewed here: http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/Nix6-7-07.doc
Today I was reading about a possible stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis. Without getting into if he is innocent or guilty, the evidence against him, etc. something else stuck out as being quite odd to me. It turns out that Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta had already written on behalf of the man who was convicted by a jury of 12 of his peers and possibly faces the death penalty as soon as next week. But Archbishop Gregory did this over a year ago. He wrote to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on 7 June 2007. That letter can be viewed here: http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/Nix6-7-07.doc
What bothers me about this is not that Archbishop Gregory is speaking out against the taking of a human life. But the fact that when Terry Schiavo's case made it's way to the Federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, only a few blocks away from Wilton Gregory's office, he chose to remain silent. You can read about the case in Atlanta here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/22/schiavo/index.html
No letter. No voice of disapproval. No attempt whatsoever to try to convince anybody that she should be spared her life. Complete silence while she was fighting for her life and she had not even been charged with any wrong doing and certainly not convicted. Instead he released this letter only a few hours after she had already died: http://www.archatl.com/archbishops/gregory/writings/2005/03.31.05-Schiavo.pdf
Never mind how calculated it was to wait until she died and then say something only a few hours after she had passed when it was too late. Why the silence in one case but the outspoken support in another? In one case he remained silent when someone who hasn't even been accused of any wrongdoing let alone tried and convicted was going to be killed. In the other case someone who has been convicted of an actual crime so severe it calls for the death penalty will get his full support.
Again, this is in no way meant to be any statement on the innocence or guilt of Troy Anthony Davis and/or whether or not the death penalty applies here. It is only meant to question why Archbishop Wilton Gregory will support him but make no effort at all for Terry Schiavo.
Well said.
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