Torture

A great video of a great event!

Thank you to Andrew Patterson for his wonderful videography work!

By Carol Wickersham and Tom Driver

Many people think that under the present Administration the US has stopped sponsoring torture, but this is not so. Worse, public approval of the occasional use of torture has edged upward over the past year. According to a Pew poll released December 3, half of Americans now say that the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can either often (19%) or sometimes (35%) be justified. This is the first time in over five years of polling by Pew Research on this question that a majority has expressed these views. Another 16% say torture can be justified "rarely." Only 25% say it can "never" be justified. Still worse, an earlier Pew poll documented that the more frequently people attend church the more likely they are to find torture acceptable.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has created the following resource on torture for the Advent season:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dm4a6FwLs%2FXfsiU...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090615/schell

The Christian Peace Witness for Iraq is happening in Washington, D.C. April 29th!

On the 100th day of the new administration, join us in the nation’s capital for witness and worship and nonviolent action to call on the new president and Congress to end the war and occupation in Iraq, support a comprehensive peace process, end the policy and practice of torture and meet human needs at home.

There are ways to be involved whether or not you can be with us in Washington. Please visit christianpeacewitness.org and join your voice to the witness!

PC(USA) takes strong action for peace.

As divisions around issues of sexuality continue to dominate conversations in the wake of the 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA), our church has demonstrated remarkable unity in its collective call to peacemaking. In fact, on many issues there was such consensus among commissioners that little or no discussion was offered in plenary sessions. We want to highlight the many ways our denomination adopted policies that will strengthen its larger witness for peacemaking in our broken world.

A Lecture/Discussion featuring

Brig. Gen. Stephen Xenakis (U.S.A. Ret.)

Leading Military Critic of US Torture Policy

Visit www.southwestwitness.org or contact ppfwitness@gmail.com for more info