Religious Leaders Unite to Abolish Torture

Dr. Rick Warren, Rev. Ted Haggard, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick among those calling for eradication of U.S. policies permitting torture and inhumane treatment

Monday, June 12, 2006

Washington, D.C. – In a statement to be published in tomorrow’s New York Times, religious leaders from across the faith spectrum called for the elimination of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as part of U.S. policy.

The statement, “Torture is a Moral Issue,� proclaims that torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions hold dear. Shepherded by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), the statement is signed by 27 national religious leaders, including Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, D.C.; Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Nobel laureates President Jimmy Carter and Elie Wiesel.

Other signatories include Dr. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, and author of the runaway bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life; Rev. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Dr. Frank Thomas, pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis and editor of The African-American Pulpit; and Dr. Sayyid Syeed, National Director of the Islamic Society of North America.

“There is a special dignity in every human being that comes from the fact that we are brothers and sisters in God’s one human family,� said Cardinal McCarrick. “It is because of this that we all feel that torture is a dehumanizing and terrible attack against human nature and the respect we owe for each other.�

NRCAT bridges theological and political divides by uniting mainstream Protestants and Evangelical Christians; Muslims with Reform and Conservative Jews; Orthodox and Roman Catholics; Sikhs and members of peace churches behind a single message: Any U.S. policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.

Dr. Glen Stassen, Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary and another signatory, noted, “Evangelicals are Christ centered, not that nobody else is, but we are, and the cross was humiliation and torture.� Dr. Syeed said, “The Koran clearly emphasizes the dignity of all human beings that must be maintained at all costs.� Rabbi Saperstein added: “All of humanity is created in the image of God. Torture is a profound violation of this principle.�

NRCAT is organizing to gather and amplify religious voices speaking out against torture. NRCAT will continue the “Torture is a Moral Issue� campaign by encouraging people of faith across the country to endorse the statement by visiting www.nrcat.org National, regional and local religious organizations and congregations have already joined the Campaign. In addition to this project, NRCAT has produced and promotes faith study guides and manages a listserv for partners to share action ideas, resources, and successful models. Recent efforts include the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture underway in the DC-area, and the “Torture is Wrong� church banner project developed in Austin, TX. NRCAT also works closely with secular human rights groups, including Human Rights First and Amnesty International.

Torture and inhumane treatment have long been banned by U.S. treaty obligations, and are punishable by criminal statute. Recent developments, however, have created new uncertainties. By reaffirming the ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as well as torture, the McCain Amendment, now signed into law, is a step in the right direction. Yet the implementation of the McCain Amendment remains unclear.

The President's signing statement, which he issued when he signed the McCain Amendment into law, implies that the President is not bound by the Amendment in his role as Commander-in-Chief. As such, continued inhumane methods of interrogation remain a real possibility.

NRCAT urges Congress and the President to abolish torture now – without exceptions – by prohibiting:
-Exemptions from the human rights standards of international law for any arm of our 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, inhuman 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 our government overseas.

To view a copy of NRCAT’s “Torture is a Moral Issue� statement and a complete list of signatories, go to www.nrcat.org. The website also includes a complete list of NRCAT’s member organizations.

CONTACT: Contact: Jeanne Herrick-Stare, (202) 547-6000 x 2513, jeanne@fcnl.org or Rev. Richard Killmer, (207) 846-9963, killmerrp@aol.com