| Earlier postings
on this conference |
| The conference adopted a
declaration against torture – Read it, and sign on to support it if you
choose! |
|
Ray McGovern: "I
do not wish to be associated with torture" [3-3-06]
Ray McGovern, who received a special commendation after his
27-year career with the CIA, has returned his medal and written a letter to
the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: "As a matter of
conscience, I am returning the Intelligence Commendation Award medallion
given me for ‘especially commendable service’ during my 27-year career in
CIA. The issue is torture, which inhabits the same category as rape and
slavery - intrinsically evil. I do not wish to be associated, however
remotely, with an agency engaged in torture."
McGovern was one of the people present at the conference
on torture held in January at Princeton. |
Princeton conference
on torture: disturbing and energizing, with the rich diversity of
"an amazing coalition"
Carol Wickersham, who initiated the No2Torture group within the Presbyterian
Church, offers this report on the conference held
January 13-15, 2006, at Princeton Seminary. [1-23-06] |
More details from the Princeton conference on
torture
[3-8-06]
We have reported before on
the conference on "Theology, International Law, and Torture," held last
January at Princeton Theological Seminary. [See box to the right >>>]
We are happy now to bring a more
detailed account than we have been able to offer before, prepared for the
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship by Lois Baker, Anne Barstow, and Tom Driver.
Theology,
International Law, and Torture:
A Conference on Human Rights and Religious
Commitment held at Princeton Theological Seminary, January 13-15, 2006
Report of the conference
prepared for the
National Committee of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
by Lois Baker, Anne Barstow, and Tom Driver
Since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal
was revealed in 2004, there has been considerable debate in secular quarters
about the illegality of the U. S. use of torture. This debate has been
dominated by references to human rights and international law. The religious
community, however, has not spoken out in a unified voice against torture
and has not made the case for its immorality. The conference held at
Princeton Theological Seminary Jan. 13-15 was a major attempt to halt this
silence by launching a national interfaith religious campaign against
torture. Here the language would be that of theology in which religious
groups could express the inherent wrong and sinfulness of our government’s
use of inhumane treatment of prisoners in its custody.
Convened by Dr. George Hunsinger of
Princeton Seminary and called "Theology, International Law and Torture," the
conference drew about 120 participants from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and
Sikh groups. Evangelical as well as liberal Christians were well
represented. Co-sponsors included Church Folks for a Better America, Human
Rights First, The Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, and the
Peace Action Education Fund.
The excellent roster of presenters
included first-rate theological thinkers as well as experts on human rights
(mainly young women), international law, and military codes of ethics. A
sense of urgency and thoughtful anger persisted throughout among the one
hundred or so conferees.
The opening speaker, Sr. Dianne Ortiz,
a nun who was raped and tortured by the Guatemalan military assisted by U.S.
personnel in 1989, told us that she had received no support or help from
either the Guatemalan or United States governments after her release. Her
narration of the experience of torture, almost unbearable to relate or to
hear, grounded the conference in reality, making vivid the reason for our
being gathered.
We heard also from James Yee, the West
Point graduate with 14 years of service as an officer in the army, who,
while a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo prison, was arrested, charged with
espionage, 'disappeared' into a federal prison in South Carolina and held in
solitary confinement for 76 days. Although the charge was then dropped and
he was given an honorable discharge from the army, he has never received any
kind of apology, which he believes he is due.
International legal experts established
that international law forbids torture, cruel and inhumane interrogation,
and destroying human dignity. Even threats to use such things are illegal.
The panel maintained that the present administration’s use of torture is
deliberate, that it seems to ignore law, and that thus our very democracy is
threatened.
Expressing concerns of some in the
military, Gen. Richard O'Meara reported that military personnel do not get
clear guidelines as to what is legal practice during interrogation and
incarceration. Adm. John Hutson declared that we must not become like the
terrorists but instead stand for the rule of law. Deborah Pearlstein of
Human Rights First reported that there have been 33 homicides of men in U.
S. custody, of whom 8 were clearly tortured to death.
Mark Danner, the renowned investigative
reporter, gave vivid documentation of torture techniques used by nations
where the U.S. sends prisoners by "extraordinary rendition." He detailed
torture's effects on the victim and the goals of this inhumane treatment.
Now that torture has been revealed as part of U. S. policy, he said, we
either have to live with it or do something about it. Now is the time for
political action.
Danner cited two ways in which our use
of a "state of exception" (the phrase is from the German political thinker,
Carl Schmitt) has placed people in legal black holes: indefinite detention
and labeling people as 'unlawful combatants'. He said that torture is the
ultimate result of exception, reducing people to mere objects. He urged us
not to allow any exceptions for torture, not even the utilitarian argument
that it may produce information.
As one of the respondents to Mark Danner's lecture,
Professor Jeremy Waldron, who teaches legal and political philosophy at
Columbia University, made one of the strongest presentations at the
conference. His main argument, which he expressed in Christian as well as
legal and philosophical terms, was that the illegality of torture is
basic to the moral foundation of all law whatsoever. It follows that
the attempt to justify torture UNDER the law is willy-nilly the same as an
attack UPON the law.
The theologians, in their turn, addressed the evil that
torture does to the torturer. Glen Stassen said "We need to name torture for
what it is -- sin.... The sin of making yourself a replacement for God." It
destroys the ability to see others as fully human. Katherine Sonderegger
said that torturing is a re-crucifixion and a crime against God. Even though
the various groups arrived at this conclusion differently -- the Catholics
speaking regretfully of the Inquisition, and Protestants confessing witch
hunts and other atrocities -- all insisted that degrading a human being made
in the image of God is sinful.
David Gushee
lamented that we Americans are passively accepting torture as sometimes
justified. When this happens, it "breaks down the morality" of the nation.
Dr. William Cavanaugh, who helps the Catholic church in
Chile document and verify abuse and atrocity reports under the Pinochet
regime, gave a broad interpretation of the uses of torture: that governments
use it to give a new vision, to simulate war when they need a war, to
dramatize a supposed clash of civilizations. He pointed out that because
there was no armed, organized resistance to Pinochet, the government
methodically made enemies to justify its militarism and brutality. Torture
was a main instrument of enemy-making, as were random execution, and the
propagandistic fabrication of threats to the nation.
Over the conference hung the question why the American
public shows so little concern about torture. One woman said that when she
had worked for Amnesty International for a year trying to get local churches
to study and speak out against the use of torture, she got nowhere: one
congregation returned to her the photos of Abu Ghraib she had sent them;
some congregations said that they "could not speak about such things."
Given all of this denial and rationalization, we realized
we have a huge job of education to arouse church people about the moral
crisis we are in. Speaking to this, Rabbi Saul Berman said that the role of
religious leadership is to persuade people that ultimate values need to be
sustained even in the face of fears, with no demonizing of the enemy and
while maintaining the God-given value of every human being. Abdullahi An-Na’im,
of the law faculty at Emory University, pointed out that traditional Islam
does not provide equal rights for non-Muslims, and that Muslims today must
work hard to create a new interpretation. Evangelicals David Gushee and Gary
Haugen explained that evangelicals know little about what is happening and
need to be confronted with the facts. They don’t need new theology; they
just need to be told "Jesus doesn’t torture," and reminded that in Christian
ethics there is zero support for torture.
During the conference, prayer time for the Muslims, and
Shabat services for the Jewish conferees were scheduled; on Sunday morning
Christians worshiped at Trinity Episcopal church, where Dr. Fleming
Rutledge's sermon proclaimed that torture is contrary to all of Christ's
life and teaching. She ended the sermon with a unison reading of the prayer
for enemies from the Book of Common Worship.
We were given time to meet in faith-tradition groups. We
were advised to do grassroots organizing through the use of existing
networks, celebrating our victories, thanking opponents for listening and
dialoging, and affirming our necessary reliance on the mercy of God.
Thirty-five groups signed the conference statement and
many joined the National Religious Campaign against Torture. To sign on,
contact Church Folks for a Better America, 40 Witherspoon St., Princeton,
NJ, 08542.
A teaching resource, "Way of Torture, Way of the Cross: A
Bible Study for Lent and Other Occasions," along with other information, is
available at the campaign's website:
http://www.nrcat.org. |
