alternative reader no. 133
Religious Leaders Urge US to Ban Torture
By Alan Cooperman
The Washington
Post
Reposted by Bulatlat
Twenty-seven religious leaders, including megachurch pastor Rick Warren,
Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of
Washington, have signed a statement urging the United States to "abolish
torture now - without exceptions."
The
statement, being published in newspaper advertisements starting today, is
the opening salvo of a new organization called the National Religious
Campaign Against Torture, which has formed in response to allegations of
human rights abuse at U.S. detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Titled
"Torture is a Moral Issue," the statement says that torture "violates the
basic dignity of the human person" and "contradicts our nation's most
cherished values." "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?" it asks.
The
signers come from a broad range of denominations and include notable
religious conservatives, such as the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the
National Association of Evangelicals; Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; and the Rev. William J. Byron,
former president of Catholic University.
By
suggesting that recent abuse of prisoners may not be just an aberration
but a reflection of U.S. policy, the statement contains an implicit
challenge to the Bush administration, according to some signers.
"I'm not
persuaded that this issue has been put to bed yet by the Bush
administration," said David P. Gushee, a philosophy professor at Union
University in Tennessee who wrote an influential article against torture
this year in Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine. "I'm worried
that we still don't truly know what is going on in all our detention
centers around the world."
Deputy
White House press secretary Dana Perino said the administration has "the
utmost respect for all these religious leaders." But, she said, "I'll
simply repeat what the president has said many times, which is that this
government does not torture, and we adhere to the international
conventions against torture. That is our policy, and it will remain our
policy."
On its
Web site, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture urges Congress
and the president to "remove all ambiguities" by prohibiting secret U.S.
prisons around the world, ending the rendition of suspects to countries
that use torture, granting the Red Cross access to all detainees and not
exempting any arm of the government from human rights standards.
McCarrick said last night that he had signed on to "the general principle"
that torture is unacceptable but had not seen the new organization's
specific proposals. Gushee said he is "not sure that everyone who signed
the statement would concur with that platform," though he said he,
personally, does.
13 June
2006
Posted by
Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
COMMENT
© 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.