Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take it Anymore?

My appologies for awkward links. I don’t try to get you folks to do the work for me too often, but I’m curious to know if any of you have heard of this new organization-The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). Go read about it in the UM Reporter . A few selected quotes:

"Catholics, Protestants and Jews are joining with Muslims. Evangelicals are
working with other Protestants. I think the religious community is the sleeping
giant in this issue."

Such a mass movement among Christians, Jews and Muslims is needed to combat
interrogation practices by -- or on behalf of -- the U.S. government, … because
"these practices haven't stopped."

… whatever the definition of torture, people of faith say the issue goes beyond
whether the mind or the body is the target. The point, they say, is that torture
is morally wrong."It's not moral, not America, and it's not tolerable,"

"Some think [an effort against torture] is a thinly-veiled anti-Bush
effort," …. "But really, it's about the very foundation about what we want our
country to be about and the whole world to be about. We want to bring about the
transformation of people, systems, governments, so that God's will is truly
reflected on earth."

It's no news that religious people oppose torture, but apparently the objections
haven't been loud enough to convince some leaders. Europeans don't even know
that American churches have made anti-torture statements….

"But from the United Methodist understanding, any form of cruel, inhumane or
degrading treatment cannot be tolerated because it debases the human person.
This is the same undergirding that we give to opposition of the death
penalty.

"What we're saying is, we want a ban against torture, with no loopholes,"
…President Bush is not getting the message.

"They're making us less secure because the whole world is turning against us.
They're making us less secure because we're becoming more paranoid. We're
becoming a nation of torturers, hiding behind a screen of ill-thought-out
policies that are leading us down a path to more violence, and more
danger."

Strong words. Words that need to be heard. My only question is: who is hearing them.

Please tell me that some of you have heard of NRCAT. I had to go online to the UM Reported interactive; my print version did not contain this article, for some reason. I found it by accident. I pray that this is not the faith community’s version of yelling out that window.

The article ends:

"Now facts are coming out, that torture as a policy has been condoned since the
'50s, and for sure, since post-9/11 in the present administration….Many people
are horrified that they have to confront this. I salute the courage of people
who love their country enough to confront this issue."