" .
For many of the Christian denominations, statements opposing capital.
punishment are products of social-action committees rather than votes by .
the membership. For example, the Western Diocese Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States took an active role in an effort to commute the death sentence placed upon convicted felon Andrew Kokoraleis (Halperin 14). The Illinois Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for Kokoraleis, who has been on Death Row since 1982 for the murder of Lorraine Borowski, a 21-year-old woman whose body was found beaten, stabbed and mutilated in a DuPage County cemetery. Borowski's death is one of 17 torture-slayings of young women that authorities say Kokoraleis might have taken part in. In a clemency petition filed with George Ryan, the governor of Illinois, Kokoraleis' attorneys said the only evidence pointing to their client in Borowski's murder is his own confession, which he later recanted, saying it was beaten out of him by police. Despite the violent allegations against Kokoraleis, Bishop Vsevolod of Scopelos issued a statement decrying the death penalty in general and asked for a!.
moratorium on executions. "Let us redouble our efforts to convince those in authority on this earth that they have no right to substitute God's authority by the taking away of the most precious gift of God--life itself--from one of his children," said Vsevolod. The clergy, who said Ryan refused to meet with them, denounced the impending execution of Kokoraleis as "a destructive symmetry of violence mirroring violence" and "a rush toward lethal injection." (Halperin 16).
Not all religious leaders agree wholeheartedly on the issue, however. The Rev. Whitney West, pastor of Lincoln Park Baptist Church, said he would support the death penalty if it were administered in accordance with Scripture: swiftly and only in cases where there are eyewitnesses (Winsor B5). "The only way for life to have value is to follow the Scripture: 'A life for a life,'" he said.