Friday, June 3, 2011

June Is Torture Awareness Month

On behalf of the Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture (WSRCAT) we want to remind friends that June is designated as Torture Awareness Month. This is indeed a difficult topic to address because it so deeply offends our religious and humane principles. But precisely because torture is so deeply offensive to our legal, moral and spiritual bearings, it is all the more important that we attend to its offense by holding it in prayer and our political consciousness. Please consider observing June as Torture Awareness Month by doing one or more of the following three things:

1) Go to the new WSRCAT website http://www.wsrcat.org/  for local articles (see especially our own RobCrawford's http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2014985267_guest09crawford.html as well as links to other end-torture websites;

2) Take a few minutes to view a brief new video, "Repairing the Brokenness," at http://www.nrcat.org [www.nrcat.org], that offers responses to torture from leaders from various religious traditions. After you have viewed the video please consider offering it to a post-worship group or any group audience;

3) and finally, please consider an individual or group letter to your Congressperson and Senators Cantwell and Murray to call for a much needed Commission of Inquiry that would lay bare the full facts of U.S. torture and cruel treatment. WSRCAT's position is that in order to become a nation of law committed to human rights, public awareness of what has happened and accountability for these actions - including criminal investigations and prosecutions - are absolutely essential if we are to prevent torture in the future.

Tom Ewell
tewell@whidbey.com

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