Resources

Organizations & Projects

Advocacy

Steps You Can Take

  • Endorse NRCAT’s Statement of Conscience, Torture is a Moral Issue (www.nrcat.org) and/or the “Principles for an Executive Order Banning Torture” (go to the NRCAT website and click on, “Do You Support a Presidential Order?”)
  • Have your congregation or work support the “Principles for an Executive Order Banning Torture.”
  • Download copies of the Statement of Conscience and/or Principles for an Executive Order Banning Torture in petition format and gather signatures from family, friends, and colleagues in support of the Statement.
  • Organize a study group using the Catholic Bishops’ “Torture is a Moral Issue — Catholic Study Guide.”

Prayer & Reflection

Prayer Against Cruelty

Because you became one of us, O God,
you know us as we are.
Because you lived among us
you have seen the cruelty we are capable of.
Because you suffered at the hands of those who were
threatened by your power
you know torture’s pain and degradation.
You call us to love our enemies but you do not leave us
to a hopeless task.
You show us how it is possible.
You empower us with your Holy Spirit to do the
unimaginable.
Help us believe that through you we can indeed love our
enemies, do good to those who hate us,
bless those who curse us.
Hasten the day when the whole world will seek justice
over revenge,
peace over power,
wholeness over dominion.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the
glory forever.
Amen.

(Based on a litany published in the National Leader’s Guide distributed by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.)

Reflection Questions

  • How do you imagine the use of torture by the US government might impact the security and protection of US troops and citizens imprisoned by foreign governments?
  • The ticking time bomb is sometimes offered as a moral thought experiment to discuss whether torture is ever justified. It asks: if someone had information about a bomb that were about to explode, and their information could save hundreds or thousands of lives, would it be just to torture them for the information? Others have argued that this simplistic and unlikely scenario leads down a slippery slope towards permitting torture and distorts moral and legal premises. How do you feel about this thought experiment?
  • When you think of Jesus’ torture and crucifixion, how does it relate to the use of torture by the US governments?

U.S. & Intergovernmental Institutions