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GREENSBORO — David Bills recalls the words of a friend who represents a man who has spent the past 30 years on death row for murder.


Has our society lost its capacity to forgive? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.


The friend, Bills said, believes the crime occurred during a low point — but not a defining moment — in the man's life.


"She said, 'I think our society has lost its capacity to forgive,'" said Bills, the pastor at New Garden Friends Meeting, on Monday. "She said we have lost faith in people. Maybe that's one reason we should work harder to abolish it."


Bills served on an interfaith panel of Greensboro clergy discussing the death penalty at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.


The discussion, "Religious Traditions and the Death Penalty," drew nearly 100 people. Sponsored by the Greensboro chapter of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, the conversation centered on how faith communities view putting someone to death and why more church leaders aren't speaking out.


"It's a very permanent outcome for a very imperfect process," said Brian Goldberg, chairman of the Greensboro chapter. "We have seen a lot in the news lately. We've had three people that have been exonerated in the last four months."


The death penalty has come under increased scrutiny recently, especially in North Carolina. Since 1973, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, 129 people in 26 states have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence — the most recent being Levon Jones, a man who spent 14 years on North Carolina's death row on a 1987 murder conviction.


A clash between the N.C. Medical Board and the state Department of Correction has essentially caused a moratorium on executions here. The medical board approved an ethics policy in 2006 prohibiting a doctor from doing anything more than being present at an execution. State law, however, requires a doctor to "attend and provide professional medical assessment."


Since then, five death row inmates have successfully sued to have their executions put on hold until the matter is settled.


On Monday, state Senate Republican leader Philip Berger of Rockingham County sent a letter to Gov. Mike Easley, arguing that health professionals cannot be penalized by their licensing boards because of their participation in a lawful execution. .


"What we've got at this point is an unelected administrative licensing board, which has taken upon itself to enter a decision that in essence has the net affect of overruling lawfully enacted state law concerning the death penalty," said Berger, who was not at Monday evening's discussion.


The audience at Holy Trinity found that their faith traditions were similar on the death penalty. Masoud Awartani, an Islamic businessman, spoke of capital punishment as a means of last resort for the common good of the community — but never to be taken lightly.


The Rev. Louis Canino of the Franciscan Center, said the Catholic faith at one time had reflected a "very checkered, ugly, horrific and very, very embarrassing" period in burning heretics at the stake. Even as Catholic leaders speak of the sanctity of life, he said, a significant number of people in the pews still reflect culture's view of the death penalty. Statistics show nearly 60 percent of people in the United States favor the death penalty.


"How do you engage, and how do you have a transformation of the heart?" Canino asked.


Rabbi Fred Guttman told the audience that he believes in capital punishment — along with an almost-impossible-to-attain burden of proof developed by leaders of the Jewish faith long ago.


"The chances of killing an innocent person is way too great," Guttman said.

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com