Religious leaders call for end to torture
An ad calling for the elimination of torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment as part of U.S. policy will run in the New York Times June 13.
Sponsored by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the ad is signed by 27 religious leaders, including former President Jimmy Carter and United Methodist Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Names of other United Methodist leaders appearing in the ad include the Rev. Bob Edgar, top staff executive, National Council of Churches; Leonard Sweet, Drew University, and Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University.
The United Methodist Board of Church and Society is a participating member of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
The ad states: "Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved - policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.
"Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now - without exceptions."
The statement was drafted by George Hunsinger, professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"The statement has the theological rationale that is really important," said Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethic, Duke University Divinity School.
"Of course, nobody is for torture, but it makes a difference why it is you are against torture and how you understand what torture is."
Hauerwas says the statement is timely because of today's "political climate."
"In our current political climate, there is an attempt to make torture so ambiguous that we are not sure we know it when we see it. Therefore it is very important for Christians to say, 'We know it when we see it.' "
A moral issue
The Rev. Richard Killmer, a Presbyterian pastor and program director for the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, said the campaign has reached across the interfaith community. More than 5,000 people of faith have signed the statement "Torture is a Moral Issue."
"Evangelicals, mainline denominations, Muslims and Jews can all hold hands together around this issue," he said.
Killmer, along with Hunsinger and Jeanne Herrick-Stare, Friends Committee on National Legislation, founded the campaign.
Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy is a national ecumenical research center located on the campus of United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington. Friends Committee on National Legislation is a Quaker lobby in Washington.
The campaign began in response to Sen. John McCain's amendment banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror. President George Bush signed the legislation using a signing statement that allows him to recall the law in "defense of the Constitution."
The McCain amendment is a step in the right direction, but it is unclear whether President Bush will implement the law, Killmer said.
Proposed prohibitions
The statement on torture written by the organization goes on to read: "Furthermore, in a troubling development, for the first time in our nation's history, legislation has now been signed into law that effectively permits evidence obtained by torture to be used in a court of law."
The statement urges Congress and the president to remove all ambiguities by prohibiting:
* Exemptions from the human rights standards of international law for any arm of government.
* The practice of extraordinary rendition, whereby suspects are apprehended and flown to countries that use torture as a means of interrogation.
* Any disconnection of "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment" from the ban against "torture" so as to permit inhumane interrogation.
* The existence of secret U.S. prisons around the world.
* Any denial of Red Cross access to detainees held by U.S. government overseas.
The statement also calls for an independent investigation of human right abuses at U.S. installations like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.
Christian curriculum on the issue as well as Jewish and other resources is available on the Web site: www.nrcat.org.
Full Press Release, Worldwide Faith News
Sponsored by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the ad is signed by 27 religious leaders, including former President Jimmy Carter and United Methodist Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Names of other United Methodist leaders appearing in the ad include the Rev. Bob Edgar, top staff executive, National Council of Churches; Leonard Sweet, Drew University, and Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University.
The United Methodist Board of Church and Society is a participating member of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
The ad states: "Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved - policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.
"Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now - without exceptions."
The statement was drafted by George Hunsinger, professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"The statement has the theological rationale that is really important," said Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethic, Duke University Divinity School.
"Of course, nobody is for torture, but it makes a difference why it is you are against torture and how you understand what torture is."
Hauerwas says the statement is timely because of today's "political climate."
"In our current political climate, there is an attempt to make torture so ambiguous that we are not sure we know it when we see it. Therefore it is very important for Christians to say, 'We know it when we see it.' "
A moral issue
The Rev. Richard Killmer, a Presbyterian pastor and program director for the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, said the campaign has reached across the interfaith community. More than 5,000 people of faith have signed the statement "Torture is a Moral Issue."
"Evangelicals, mainline denominations, Muslims and Jews can all hold hands together around this issue," he said.
Killmer, along with Hunsinger and Jeanne Herrick-Stare, Friends Committee on National Legislation, founded the campaign.
Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy is a national ecumenical research center located on the campus of United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington. Friends Committee on National Legislation is a Quaker lobby in Washington.
The campaign began in response to Sen. John McCain's amendment banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror. President George Bush signed the legislation using a signing statement that allows him to recall the law in "defense of the Constitution."
The McCain amendment is a step in the right direction, but it is unclear whether President Bush will implement the law, Killmer said.
Proposed prohibitions
The statement on torture written by the organization goes on to read: "Furthermore, in a troubling development, for the first time in our nation's history, legislation has now been signed into law that effectively permits evidence obtained by torture to be used in a court of law."
The statement urges Congress and the president to remove all ambiguities by prohibiting:
* Exemptions from the human rights standards of international law for any arm of government.
* The practice of extraordinary rendition, whereby suspects are apprehended and flown to countries that use torture as a means of interrogation.
* Any disconnection of "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment" from the ban against "torture" so as to permit inhumane interrogation.
* The existence of secret U.S. prisons around the world.
* Any denial of Red Cross access to detainees held by U.S. government overseas.
The statement also calls for an independent investigation of human right abuses at U.S. installations like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.
Christian curriculum on the issue as well as Jewish and other resources is available on the Web site: www.nrcat.org.
Full Press Release, Worldwide Faith News
posted by TLC's Place at 5:34 PM
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