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Interim pastor at local church chained himself to pole outside Tennessee Capitol protesting Pike execution

Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter/ The Rev. Marvin Morgan, 78, clasps his hands together in his office at Rivermont Presbyterian Church while speaking Oct. 1, 2026, about his opposition to the execution of Christa Pike. Morgan recently volunteered himself to be executed in the place of Pike, the 50-year-old Tennessee woman who survived an execution attempt by the state of Tennessee on Sept. 30, 2026.
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter/ The Rev. Marvin Morgan, 78, clasps his hands together in his office at Rivermont Presbyterian Church while speaking Oct. 1, 2026, about his opposition to the execution of Christa Pike. Morgan recently volunteered himself to be executed in the place of Pike, the 50-year-old Tennessee woman who survived an execution attempt by the state of Tennessee on Sept. 30, 2026. Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter/ The Rev. Marvin Morgan, 78, clasps his hands together in his office at Rivermont Presbyterian Church while speaking Oct. 1, 2026, about his opposition to the execution of Christa Pike. Morgan recently volunteered himself to be executed in the place of Pike, the 50-year-old Tennessee woman who survived an execution attempt by the state of Tennessee on Sept. 30, 2026.

By Kailee Shores 4 min read

Before the state of Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike, the Rev. Marvin Morgan chained himself to a pole outside of the state Capitol.

It was not the first time Morgan, who began serving as an interim pastor at Rivermont Presbyterian Church in May, has taken radical action in opposition to the death penalty, he said. The first was in Georgia in 2008, when the state was going to execute Troy Davis.

“I did go to jail in Georgia … I had someone chain me to the fence outside the state Capitol as a sign of lost privilege,” Morgan said. “And the officers at the Capitol claimed that I had scratched the flagpole with the chain.”

Davis’ case, Pike’s case and others have moved Morgan, 78, to offer his life in place of those scheduled to be executed. His opposition has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of those on death row, he said. A case draws his attention when a case is placed in the hands of a single person.

“I believe we are too fallible as people to judge and try to stand in the position of God,” he said.c”That is an affront to me and others who oppose capital punishment.”