Campaign Against Torture

"Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved -- policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable."

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a growing membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. NRCAT has declared June as Torture Awareness Month.

Second Unitarian Church joined with more than 300 congregations in all 50 states and DC in making June 2008 the month for Banners Across America! Congregations of all sizes, from a variety of faiths, in small towns and big cities are joining in this powerful public witness against torture by displaying a banner outside their place of worship during Torture Awareness Month.

Our 4 x 8-foot banner was hung on the north side of the church during a ceremony Sunday, June 8th. Afterwards participants viewed the movie "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib", a documentary that examines and contextualizes the abuses that occurred in the fall of 2003 at the notorious Iraqi prison - abuses documented in photographs that are etched in our national consciousness.
To kick off our Torture Awareness Sunday, Rev. Joshua Snyder presented a fantastic sermon "Let Justice Roll Down Like Water". Here is the introduction to the sermon:
"At the congregational meeting a few of weeks ago, Second Unitarian Church voted to participate in a nation-wide effort to speak out against torture.  We will be displaying a banner along the north end of the church that affirms our opposition to torture in all its forms against all people.  It is good and right that we do this; speaking out against injustice is very much in keeping with our Unitarian Universalist tradition.  This is a prophetic act in keeping with the tradition of the Old Testament prophets such as Amos, whose famous line was so effectively quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. and I have used it for my title today."

To read the entire sermon, click here. Or you can download a MP3 podcast of the sermon by clicking here.

Hanging the Anti-Torture Banner at Second Unitarian

Clyde Anderson and Stu Burns hang the banner on the north side of the church.

 

Photos by Mary Bamesberger

Some of the participants in the banner hanging ceremony. Caroline True (center) led the effort for Second Unitarian to join the Torture Awareness Campaign.

Building & Grounds Committee sponsored a Painting Party Saturday, June 7th, to paint the north side of the church in preparation for the banner hanging.
Our hardy painting crew braved the warm, muggy weather to get the vegetation cleared and the wall scraped and painted. From the left: Tom Rundquist, Jana Halloran, Clyde Anderson, David Johnson, and Rick Bell. Mary Bamesberger is behind the camera, and Mike Brockman is in the third photo.
Posted: June 11, 2008