On this we agree: torture is wrong, and its use must be investigated

Michael Kinnamon made the following statement via telephone on June 8, 2010 to a Washington press conference organized by the The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) following the release of a report by Physicians for Human Rights report, “Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence in the ‘Enhanced’ Interrogation Program.” See also http://www.ncccusa.org/news/100609nrcatact.html

I am sorry not be with you in person, but honored, on behalf of the National Council of Churches, to stand with these interfaith colleagues in passionate opposition to torture and, with them, to call, yet again, for an in-depth, non-partisan Commission of Inquiry in order to uncover the full extent of the American use of torture as an interrogative technique, and to ensure that safeguards are put in place against it ever happening again. 

The reason I didn’t travel to Washington is that I have just returned from an international Christian conference, held in Scotland, where I met with leaders of the churches in countries like South African and Rwanda.  These churches and their nations have experienced great social turmoil and horrifying atrocities – and they testify that reconciliation and healing comes about through honest, independent examination of the past and the practice of public accountability. 

All of this is made even more urgent by the very disturbing report just issued by Physicians for Human Rights, which reinforces previous reports that torture has been used to elicit information from suspected criminals and terrorists. Even more shocking and repulsive is the revelation that health professionals helped fabricate a legal framework to protect interrogators from prosecution and helped refine illegal torture practice, in effect using prisoners for experimentation. Our churches join what we hope will be a chorus of voices demanding that the President direct the Attorney General to investigate these allegations as part of a broader inquiry into torture authorized in the past by U.S. leaders. 

The churches that make up the National Council of Churches do not agree on all things.  But on this, we agree:  All human life is precious because it was formed in the image of God. Torture, by reducing victims to the status of despised objects, denies this preciousness, debasing both the tortured and torturer. 

The faith communities that gather here are genuinely diverse.  And yet on this we agree:  Torture is intrinsically evil, having a corrosive effect on the whole of society.  Our nation’s moral standing has been compromised, and our commitment to the rule of law undermined, by the practice of torture authorized in the past by American leaders. 

People of good will do not always reach the same political conclusions.  But we who meet here today have a common message:  This country we love is in great need of healing and a full disclosure of the truth will not only help it heal, it will help build a future with safeguards against this happening again.  Furthermore, the U.S. must not engage in torture ever again.   

It is not incidental that commissions of inquiry around the world have been called “truth and reconciliation.”  From them, we learn that social healing can take place when the past is fully examined and accountability is claimed with an essential public virtue. 

It is sometimes said that a full inquiry will lower the prestige of the U.S. worldwide; but we believe, to the contrary, that the stature of this nation will be uplifted if we face our past with integrity. 

It is sometimes said that a full disclosure of U.S. crimes will threaten men and women in military uniform; but we believe, to the contrary, that they are threatened precisely when we torture others, not when we build safeguards against such practice. 

I want to be clear.  I am speaking as a representative of a faith community, not a political action group. The 36 denominations that make up the NCC don’t agree on all things, but we are firmly united in our conviction that torture denies the God-given preciousness of human life and the dignity of every human being – tortured and torturer alike.  It certainly compromises our nation’s moral standing and violates international law but even more basic, torture is an affront to God, a denial of our bedrock conviction as people of faith.  We need to know what this nation has done in order to ensure that it never happens again

Michael Kinnamon
General Secretary
National Council of Churches