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Seeking Common Ground,
Working for the Common Good

 

19 Pleasant Avenue, Portland, ME  04103            207-772-1918 


Maine Religious Campaign Against Torture

Faith Leaders Urge Obama to Close Guantanamo

On November 12, 2009, Maine Council of Churches was one of 40 faith organizations to sign on to a letter to President Obama urging him to keep the promise to close the prison at Guantanamo.  http://ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=15183

Click here for a Washington Post Guest Column on how much remains to be done on the anti-torture agenda, written by Rev. Rich Killmer, Executive Director of National Religious Campaign Against Torture. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/10/end_us-sponsored_torture_forever.html

End Torture for Good: Investigate. Legislate.

  • Advocating for new, federal anti-torture and human rights laws
  • Advocating for a non-partisan, independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S. torture policies and practices since 2001.
  • Building a grassroots network of faith-based advocates who believe that torture is always wrong.

Throughout 2009 we learned more and more excruciating detail about programs of torture authorized by the highest levels of our government. Yet there is still no comprehensive investigation into how this was allowed to happen.

Almost as shocking as the abuse itself, is the poll by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life that shows that people of faith in the US are more likely to believe that torture is sometimes justified than those not connected to a faith community.

You can help change this. Join us on our call for a Commission of Inquiry, and continue the conversation in your faith community.

Maine Council of Churches has copies available of Ending U.S.-Sponsored Torture Forever, a new video resource with discussion questions from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. This resource can be used as either a one or a two session 50 minute adult discussion/Bible study.

Please contact our office and we'll send a copy to your congregation or parish. 
 
Watch the trailer:

Trailer: Ending US-Sponsored Torture Forever from Steven D. Martin on Vimeo.

Please sign-up to tell us how you would like to work with us on this important issue:

Join the Maine Religious Campaign Against Torture


Torture Awareness Month, June 2009

Over 175 people joined Maine Council of Churches, Amnesty International, Maine Civil Liberties Union, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture at First Parish Church in Portland on June 16 for the forum discussion Out of the Shadow of Torture: How to Move Our Nation Forward with Accountability. IMG_0808.jpg

Featured speakers included Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Matthew Alexander, Former US Air Force interrogator in Iraq and Afghanistan; Tom Parker, Policy Director for Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Human Rights at Amnesty International; and Ben Wizner, Staff Attorney for the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. Watch for future broadcast of the event on MPBN.

The truth will make you free.jpgAssociate Director Eric C. Smith participated in a public witness outside the White House on Thursday, June 11 urging President Obama to create a Commission of Inquiry on US-sponsored torture. Following the public event, Eric joined a delegation of 33 religious leaders to meet with White House staff for a conversation on the moral imperative of learning the truth about torture by our government and and to deliver a letter to the President.
 


Why is torture still an issue?

  • because President Obama's Executive Orders, though a large step in the right direction, could be undone at any time by his, or any future, administration.
  • because telling the truth about what happened is the first step toward ensuring that it never happens again. 
  • because the prophetic religious voice must be heard on behalf of the dignity of all human beings, saying "torture is a moral issue." 

 

What can you do?

  • Learn more about our goals for this campaign:
  • Collect signatures in your faith community:
  • Participate in Torture Awareness, plan a worship service, Bible study, host a letter writing table or public event, display an anti-torture banner on your church building in June 2009:
All available at the NRCAT Torture Awareness Month page.
 

  •  Tell us what you are doing to end torture for good and contact us for help in planning or promoting your event or advocacy efforts: esmith@mainecouncilofchurches.org

     
     
    © Maine Council of Churches