‘torture is wrong’

Here’s an elegantly simple idea from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture: Banners Across America.

We are asking congregations of all sizes, from every state, and all faiths, to join in a public witness against torture by displaying a banner outside their place of worship during Torture Awareness Month (June 2008).

Our goal is to have banners displayed by NRCAT member congregations in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico.

Each banner will have the NRCAT logo and you may choose from one of two messages — “torture is wrong” or “Torture is a Moral Issue.”

They also have customized banners, so a congregation can hang a sign reading, “First Baptist Church says …” or “Nativity BVM says …” or “Congregation Beth Shalom says ‘torture is wrong.'” Any one of those signs would be wonderful to see. Seeing all of them hanging along the same Main Street would be a powerful witness.

The word “witness” there is important. Bearing witness does not entail telling others what to think or what to do. It entails, to use another good religious term, testifying: “This is what we have seen and what we attest to be true.”

The testimony of the local Lutheran church might not be, on its own, compelling to those of us who aren’t Lutheran. So too the testimony of the local Catholic parish might not command much attention from those of us who aren’t Catholic. Yet when local Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, Jewish and Quaker congregations all bear witness to the same thing, that testimony requires serious consideration even from those of us who do not belong to any of those traditions.

That’s part of why I support cooperative efforts like the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. I’d love to see their banners hung not just in all 50 states, but on every church, mosque, synagogue and meeting house in town.

But why stop there? “Torture is wrong” is a statement every religious congregation can agree to bear witness to, but it is not exclusively a religious testimony. Next to the banners on every church on Main Street I’d like to see other banners: “Little Anthony’s Pizza says ‘torture is wrong,'” “Prime Cuts Salon says ‘torture is wrong,'” “John’s Tavern says ‘torture is wrong.'”

Can I get a witness?