Torture -- It's time to resist
Stories from October 2006 through December 2007

The latest reports, beginning with January 2008

Torture, Terror and Security:
Theological Considerations for Tomorrow's Leaders

February 3-5, 2008, Columbia Seminary, Atlanta, GA

[12-17-07]

No2Torture, the Peacemaking Program, the Peace Fellowship and three seminaries (Columbia, Princeton and Fuller) are co-sponsoring this exciting event, inviting all academically connected Presbyterians – faculty, students, chaplains – to join this conversation, aiming to “share our best thinking about how to equip ourselves and others to be faithful in these times.” 

Brief presentations will catalyze our thoughts, worship will sustain us, and considerable time will be given to working with others doing this work from across the country.  Presenters include: Hassan al Menyawi, visiting faculty Davidson College, Muslim cleric and torture survivor; Scott Horton, human rights attorney and columnist for Harper's magazine; and George Hunsinger, Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary.  Others soon to be announced. 

The costs have been kept to a bare bones minimum and some funds to help with student travel. 

TORTURE, TERROR, AND SECURITY
Theological Considerations for Tomorrow’s Leaders

[12-17-07]

DATE            February 3-5, 2008

PLACE          Columbia Theological Seminary

SPONSORS     Columbia Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
No2Torture
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Presbyterian Peacemaking Program
Princeton Theological Seminary

OVERVIEW This conference is intended primarily for students and professors from Presbyterian seminaries and colleges. The goals of the conference, among others, are

             *          to catalyze conversation in seminaries and colleges around the issues to which the title points;

             *          to help build a network of concerned and informed faculty and students; and

             *          to help generate a body of resources to be shared by those who want to teach and learn about torture and related concerns;

all toward the end of a more thoughtful and faithful response to the issues not only on the campuses but more especially in our churches and in society at large.

Early plans call for the conference to be framed in prayer, to provide ample opportunity for interaction among the participants, and to be conducted in five general sessions, as follows:

                        Session One: Torture Victims Cry Out

In this session participants will have the opportunity to hear and to engage in personal reflection upon the stories of one or more survivors of torture.

Session Two: The Issue of Torture in our American Context

In this session participants will examine the issue of torture in American history and will consider how our present experience both reflects and differs from the past.

Session Three: Biblical and Theological Reflections on Torture, Terror, and the Pursuit of National Security

This session will provide faculty members and students an opportunity both to reflect upon the issue of torture as a challenge to biblical faithfulness, and to consider the “national theology” which serves to justify our nation’s use of violence against others.

Session Four: Reflections on Complacency, Complicity and Denial in our American Churches

In this session we will consider both the extent to which we ourselves, the educational institutions we represent, and our particular churches are complicit in contributing to a culture which condones torture, and why it is that we, our institutions, and our congregations find it difficult to address the issue.

Session Five: Overcoming our Fear, Living with Courage

Joseph P. Hoar and David M. Maddox, two retired generals, write in Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, “Our group is not a formal one, but we have come together because we believe that national policies governing treatment of detainees in counterterrorism operations have placed American military personnel at increased risk, undermined U.S. intelligence gathering efforts, and stained the reputation of the United States around the world.”

 As the U.S. Senate begins debate on the nominee for Attorney General who refuses to condemn waterboarding, you may be looking for a few helpful thoughts and quotes.

The On Faith webpage of the Newsweek and Washington Post website has a brilliant collection of religious commentators responding to the above question.

You may also want to look at these new Presbyterian resources:

People of faith are being heard as they speak out against the U.S. use of torture.

Frank Rich published an op-ed column in the Sunday, October 14, New York Times, in which he made a compelling case that we must stop simply blaming George Bush for the terrible things being done in Iraq and elsewhere in the name of America, and acknowledge our responsibility as a people for letting things go on this way.

He begins:

"Bush lies" doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time to confront the darker reality that we are lying to ourselves.

Ten days ago The Times unearthed yet another round of secret Department of Justice memos countenancing torture. President Bush gave his standard response: "This government does not torture people." Of course, it all depends on what the meaning of "torture" is. The whole point of these memos is to repeatedly recalibrate the definition so Mr. Bush can keep pleading innocent.

By any legal standards except those rubber-stamped by Alberto Gonzales, we are practicing torture, and we have known we are doing so ever since photographic proof emerged from Abu Ghraib more than three years ago. As Andrew Sullivan, once a Bush cheerleader, observed last weekend in The Sunday Times of London, America’s "enhanced interrogation" techniques have a grotesque provenance: "Verschärfte Vernehmung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the ‘third degree.’ It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation."

Still, the drill remains the same. The administration gives its alibi (Abu Ghraib was just a few bad apples). A few members of Congress squawk. The debate is labeled "politics." We turn the page.

There has been scarcely more response to the similarly recurrent story of apparent war crimes committed by our contractors in Iraq. ...

He concludes:

Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those "good Germans" who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It’s up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day. Let the war’s last supporters filibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country’s good name.

Read the full essay in the New York Times or on AlterNet

Frank Rich is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times. He has been at the Times since 1980, writing as a theater critic, and increasingly dealing with the intersection of culture and politics.

"Terror, Torture and Security: Theological Considerations for Tomorrow's Leaders"  
[10-12-07]

A working seminar will be held at Columbia Seminary, Decatur, GA, for students and faculty of Presbyterian related seminaries and colleges/universities.  Co-sponsored by Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, No2Torture, and Columbia, Fuller and Princeton Seminaries.  For more information, send a note to ppfwitness@gmail.com.

Presbyterian-founded group says new guidelines won’t stop torture    [8-10-07]

Presbyterian News Service reports that the Presbyterian-founded, church-backed National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)  is speaking out against a new executive order from President Bush that broadly outlines the limits of how suspects may be questioned in the CIA’s terror interrogation program.

The order, which Bush signed last month, bans torture, cruel and inhumane treatment, sexual abuse, acts intended to denigrate a religion or other degradation "beyond the bounds of human decency." It pledges that detainees will receive adequate food, water and medical care and be protected from extreme heat and cold.

It does not, however, say what techniques are permitted during harsh questioning of suspects.

That’s become a matter of debate in the United States and elsewhere, including with NRCAT, a coalition of more than 125 religious organizations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), that has called on the U.S. government to forswear the use of torture without exception.

The group recently issued a statement saying that said that as people of faith, "who value our common humanity and our religious responsibility to treat all people with decency and the due process protections of civilized law, ... we urge" President Bush to:

• Immediately stop the use of interrogation techniques that are "cruel and inhuman."
• Disclose what alternative interrogation techniques are used. Close all secret prisons.
• End the rendition of suspects to countries thought to use torture.
• Provide the International Red Cross access to detainees held in U.S. custody.

The statement also called on Congress to prohibit the use of any CIA funds for programs or activities that fail to treat all persons detained with "decency and the protections of due process."

A week ago, President Bush set broad legal boundaries for the CIA's harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects yesterday, allowing the intelligence agency to resume a program that was suspended last year after criticism that it violated U.S. and international law. (But he won’t tell us what those boundaries are.)

From the Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Wherever you may be on June 26, there will be opportunities to tell your members of Congress that you want U.S.-sponsored torture to end:

Have you and your delegation members registered with NRCAT? If not, click here to do so.

If you need transportation, check with ACLU at 1-202-675-2311. They are providing free buses from a number of locations.

Rally: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Upper Senate Park ( Constitution Ave. between New Jersey and Delaware Aves., NE). Closest Metro Station: Union Station. There will be five speakers from the faith community.

Look for the 6'x2' NRCAT banner "Torture is a Moral Issue" and table to pick up your packets for your congressional visits and to learn about other NRCAT efforts to end U.S.-sponsored torture. Please register to make sure there’s a packet prepared for you.

Congressional Appointments: 2 – 5 pm, individually arranged. Please tell the scheduler that you are from the faith community.

De-briefing: 5:30 pm, Mott House, 122 Maryland Avenue NE, across Maryland Ave. from the Supreme Court.

ANYWHERE IN THE NATION:

	End torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees.
	Close secret U.S. detention facilities.
	Stop extraordinary rendition - secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.
	Close the detention center at Guantánamo and give those held there access to an independent court.

Thank you for your commitment to end U.S.-sponsored torture.

From the Rev. Carol Wickersham, of No2Torture
[6-18-07]

Dear Friends,

"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice," said Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967; still and ever more true. This month we have seen evidence of both the length and the angle of this arc. In the courts, the Congress and in our congregations, we are beginning to witness the harvest of many months, even years, of hard work. Just consider the stories that have made the headlines:

In addition, legislation to repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore the constitution has gained numerous sponsors in the Senate and the House. More are still needed! You can do something!  

And on June 26 thousands will gather in Washington, DC from around the country for "The Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice"  Check out this web site to get involved. There will be buses...

But more locally and not necessarily in the headlines, the conversation is gaining momentum. We, the grassroots, are making a difference; do not doubt it! What is happening in the halls of power is pushed by public opinion. People are waking up to the fact that they have been lied to, that the Military Commissions Act does not protect our freedom; it undermines it. It doesn't reduce terrorism; it fuels it. It doesn't support the troops; it insults them by suggesting that their time honored codes of justice and ethics are "quaint."

So thank you! Keep up the good work. And keep sending your success stories and lessons learned in frustration to this group conversation. We need to learn from each other.

I wanted to also let you know that this month I was elected to the Board of the National Religious Coalition Against Torture, NRCAT represents over 100 faith-based organizations. I am looking forward to finding new ways to coordinate with others for effectively, efficiently, faithfully.

Of course, it would be insulting to end this note as if all the news is good. The evidence of progress we see this month is shadowed by the suicide of detainee Abdul Rahman Maadha al-Amry at Guantanamo on June 12. I suggest that we include him and his family in our prayers. In fact, I encourage all of us to raise his name, and the names of the others, including the 39 ghost detainees, during the public prayers in our churches. I find it is good to say the names, not just a blanket prayer for detainees. It helps to get the heart and the head around the fact that these are individual children of God who are being driven to despair by acts that are occuring on our watch.

So let's continue to join forces, raising the ante and the volume this month--just one more Sunday in Torture Awareness Month. However, we know that this is still the beginning of the the long arc towards justice. May God hasten the day.

pax,

This comes from NRCAT, the National Religious Coalition Against Torture.   [6-5-07]

If you’re not near Washington, point 5 suggests possibilities for you.

Dear NRCAT Participating and Endorsing Members:

The big day to stand with other people of faith and human rights leaders against torture is just around the corner – Tuesday, June 26^th. Two- to three-thousand people will gather for an 11:30 a.m. rally on Capitol Hill and in the afternoon lobby their Members of Congress to end torture. We hope that you will be able to come and that you will encourage the members of your organization to attend as well. This is a very important NRCAT effort and one we hope will be very successful – with your support.

1. Urge your members who are attending to register online with NRCAT at www.tortureisamoralissue.org.

2. Remember that free bus transportation is being offered by the ACLU from certain points along the East Coast and from several cities in the Midwest. See www.juneaction.org.

3. Make your appointments to meet with your Members of Congress as soon as possible. NRCAT will have materials available at the rally to use for these visits, and the materials will also be posted on our web site.

4. Select three or four of your members to join us for a debriefing of the day at 5:30 p.m. at the Mott House, 122 Maryland Ave. NE in Washington. Clergy from your organization are invited to be present for a NRCAT press conference at the Mott House at 10:30 A.M. as well.

5. Suggest to those who cannot come to Washington on June 26 that they organize a delegation of people of faith to visit the staff of your members of Congress in their district offices. You can download materials for the meeting from our website. If you have a meeting, issue a press release before the visits to tell the press about the purpose of your visits. If you are unable to organize a visit, call your members of Congress on June 26th and ask them to cosponsor the Restoring the Constitution Act. You can get their phone numbers from the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

NRCAT speakers at the press conference and rally include:

Dr. Ingrid Matson – the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest Muslim organization in North America. She is an Islamic scholar at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.

Bishop Walter Sullivan – Retired Roman Catholic bishop from the Diocese of Richmond.

Dr. Charles Gutenson – an evangelical who is Associate Dean: Distributed Learning, School of Theology and Assistant Professor: Philosophical Theology, Asbury Theological Seminary

Rabbi Gerald Serotta – Co-Chair, Rabbis for Human Rights and Associate Rabbi, Temple Shalom - Chevy Chase, MD

Rev. Richard Killmer – Executive Director, NRCAT

Please RSVP to Rich Killmer with the names of the clergy from your organization who will be present at the press conference and the three or four representatives who will attend the debriefing session at 5:30 p.m., so that we will be able to plan for an appropriate size space for each. They and all of your members should also register online at www.tortureisamoralissue.org.

Thank you for all you do to end U.S.-sponsored torture.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has signaled to the White House that an infamously abusive secret CIA program to interrogate high-level al-Qaida types may have to be scrapped, given "the damage the program does to the image of the United States abroad." It is a stinging rejection of a program that President Bush late last year called "one of the most successful intelligence efforts in American history" and comes as administration lawyers are reportedly crafting new, secret rules to govern it.

   [2-23-07]

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is publicizing a new documentary examining the abuses that occurred in the fall of 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" premiered on HBO on February 22. Click here for additional show times.

NRCAT is working with the film’s director, Rory Kennedy, and HBO about further plans for having wide viewing opportunities of this sobering documentary, and your feedback will help them in their planning. Please send your reactions to the film to them at campaign@nrcat.org

Through interviews with perpetrators, victims and witnesses, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib examines the abuses that occurred in the fall of 2003 at the notorious Iraqi prison.

Carol Wickersham reports on the January 19-20 meeting, which was co-sponsored by the National Religious Coalition Against Torture (NRCAT).

Speakers included keynoter Dr. Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, who provided a grounding in the Calvinist understanding of the universal and human temptation to sin, as well our source of redemption in our sovereign God. Dr. George Hunsinger of Princeton Theological Seminary provided insights into "Torture as the Ticking Time Bomb," unpacking how torture fuels terrorism, and how legitimizing torture undermines the constitutional democracy which we claim as "our way of life."

Statement of Conscience by the Congregation of Southside Presbyterian Church
(Tucson, Arizona)

[2-3-07]

This statement has been approved by the congregation of Southside Presbyterian Church, in Tucson, Arizona.  This church was a founder and leader of the Sanctuary Movement, which rescued thousands of Central American refugees fleeing the civil wars in their countries.

During George W. Bush’s first term as president, Alberto Gonzalez (now Attorney General) was his special counsel. Gonzalez sent to the President memos asserting that the Geneva Conventions governing treatment of persons captured in wartime are "quaint," and that the president, in time of war, is not subject to oversight by Congress or the Courts. These memos are directly implicated in the abuses that led to the scandal of Abu Graib (among others), and resulted in policies that culminated when the President signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 on October 17^th. An important provision of the Act says that the president has the authority to interpret ‘the meaning and application’ of the Geneva Conventions. This provision is intended to authorize methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts, including suspension of habeas corpus, the establishment of military tribunals (of questionable legality, according to the American Bar Association), the use of torture (under various euphemisms), and the use of testimony coerced by torture. The Act also provides retroactive immunity for those who authorize or use torture under the provisions of the Act. In protest, the congregation of Southside Presbyterian Church issues the following Statement of Conscience:

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Los Angeles, CA November 13, 2006 — No2Torture, a grass-roots Presbyterian movement, will hold a gathering at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, CA: Friday, January 19, 2007, 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, January 20, 2007, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Join us as we study, discuss, pray, worship and strategize our efforts. We will come together to witness to God who says "Yes!" to life and "No!" to torture.

On Friday evening at 7 p.m. the Rev. Dr. Richard Mouw, the President of Fuller Theological Seminary, will present our keynote address.

Throughout the day on Saturday, our presenters and facilitators will include:

"As people of faith and patriots we must say "No!" to torture. This work needs to take place at the grassroots–in congregations and communities across the country. In Los Angeles we will gather to strategize, network and equip ourselves to speak truth about torture, so that we might pursue justice, healing and true global security,"says Wickersham.

All participants must register; there is no fee. Registration is available online atwww.no2torture.org or by calling (818) 788-3330.  Childcare will be available if you are registered by Jan. 8. A free-will offering will be received to cover costs.

Out of town guests are welcome to bring sleeping bags and stay at the church or book a room at a nearby hotel (details at the web site). Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided on Saturday; meals will be simple and there will be a vegetarian option.

Covenant Presbyterian Church is located in the Westchester region of Los Angeles at 6323 West 80^th St. The church campus is right off of Sepulveda, so there is great transportation access. Cab fare from the airport is about ten dollars, and the Metro 439 and Culver City 6 bus lines run in front of the church.

As we raise our voices again against torture – with a little more hope of a hearing – you may find it help to refer to th resolution against torture that was approved by the 2006 General Assembly, both to inform your communications with legislators, and for study groups in congregations and elsewhere.

Carol Wickersham recently shared this on the No2Torture e-group

Dear Friends:

Many of us have pondered, even floundered a bit, about the "what can we do?" question. Once we are convinced of torture's fundamental affront to our faith and patriotism – what now? I want to share one congregation's strategy as a possible template to be adapted for your area.

....   Thanks for the good and creative work you are all doing. A special thanks today to all who made torture an issue in this election season. No one should be able to be elected to federal office without having to address their stand on this outrage.

In Christ, Carol Wickersham.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fellow Members of NRCAT  [The National Religious Campaign Against Torture]:

We from St. Mary's Parish in Seattle were out demonstrating our displeasure with our Federal Government's posture about torture of prisoners.

We had a couple large signs (about 5' x 5').

One had the unimpeachable statement: "Jesus Said to Visit the Imprisoned. Not Torture Them."

While not strictly true (Actually, around Matthew 25 Jesus said "the Righteous" would enter the kingdom on "The King's" right hand because, among other things, the Righteous had visited those in prison.), the meaning is clear. Moreover, you know how poorly we Catholics read the Bible, and so we deserve a little license in our remembering.

Here's the point of all this: Rita, one of our more stalwart and perceptive sign hoisters, suddenly said, "Wait a minute! Why are we out here by the freeway off-ramp, hoisting these signs as if the signs say something controversial? Why is not this sign already stuck in St. Mary's lawn, for all the world to see?

What Rita meant was that in today's world, how can a Christian church NOT have a sign saying how Christ feels about the Law of our Land, which specifically writes the Geneva Conventions outside the treatment of people the Executive is free to designate as "enemy combatants"? What is the slightest bit controversial about that?

So, now St. Mary's Church has the sign.

Here's what I fantasize every church doing:

The youth group gathers, magic markers in hand, to trace out on a tarp (or whatever you can come up with) the projected image of the words: "Jesus Said to Visit the Imprisoned. Not Torture Them."

Use whatever font you like. Shadow them. Border them. Translate to Hebrew. Spanish. Arabic.

Then, using bits of sponge or actual artist brushes, the kids paint the sign letters in outrageous colors. Or, in black and white. Whatever.

While the letters dry, out comes a scrap 2x4, with two 4-foot horizontal pieces. Fix the tarp to the frame, and taper the bottom of the 2x4. Next, out comes a big hammer and 10 minutes later there isn't any doubt where that community stands on the issue.

This is a chance for every kid to be a leader ... after all, which of us likes torture?

Pres. Bush has admitted to the outsourcing of torture (known in polite Administration circles as "rendition").

It’s a sad day for America and a very disappointing outcome for those of us who devote ourselves to advancing the global cause of human rights.

Yesterday, the Senate joined the House in approving an ill-considered and sweeping piece of legislation, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, that discards key human rights protections – and our best American traditions.

This could have been a proud moment for America. Congress had the opportunity to correct the Bush administration’s profoundly disturbing human rights policies.

Our representatives in Congress have just passed legislation that:

A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!

July 28 - August 3, 2008

Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of Violence

More info >>

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