Sign the petition. Make your voice heard. Do Something.

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We just created to Facebook group to help spread the word about the Never Torture campaign.

You don’t have to be religious to join us.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join us.

You just need to have a desire to see the end of torture.

Please join the Facebook group and sign the petition.

And if you can please send a letter to the editor to your local newspaper. It’s already written for you:

Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my concern of the use of torture by the current administration and the acknowledgment that meetings took place in the White House as well as simulations of torture techniques to determine which ones would be used.

As a person of faith I am calling upon our elected leaders as well as our faith leaders on both side of the aisle to vehemently denounce torture as immoral and illegal. I believe human beings were created in the image of God and torture dehumanizes both the tortured and the torturer. It tarnishes our great country’s moral standing around the world and hinders our ability to be a beacon of freedom, justice and democracy for others to strive towards.

Furthermore, torture places far too much power into the unchecked hands of a few. It is an abuse of power over the powerless that physically and psychologically harms another. It is vital for us: as citizens, voters and people of faith, to know where our leaders stand on the use of torture.

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In another email to his supporters former Governor Mike Huckabee exclaims that it is time to grow.

Almost two weeks ago we announced the launch of Huck PAC. The initial response has been overwhelming. Now is the time for us to grow. Huck PAC can and will be a formidable weapon in the battle to define our Nation’s principles in the weeks and months ahead.

He is most certainly correct. It is time to grow and define our nation’s principles. It’s time to define ourselves as a nation that is against torture. The only way to do that is to hold our leaders accountable to our nation’s ideals. We need to let Governor Huckabee know that we are against torture, pure and simple. Anyone can sign the petition, I encourage you to stand with us.

Sign the petition.

Do Something.

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Yesterday former Governor Huckabee sent out this email to his PAC email list:

When I decided to run for President, I asked all of you for your help. Boy, did you respond. Thousands of you signed up to be Rangers. You made hundreds of thousands of phone calls, sent tens of thousands of e-mails, put up signs, attended rallies, and did all the other things that made our campaign so successful.

But even more important than your support of my campaign, you have fought by my side for the conservative values that are so important to us. Now I’m asking you, if you haven’t already signed up for “My Huck PAC” please take a moment now to do so.

Huck PAC will rely on our Rangers in the weeks ahead to promote candidates at every level of government. I believe that strong Republican candidates who are passionate advocates for tax reform, a strong national defense, real border security, sanctity of life, family values, less government and individual liberty will help us lead America forward.

I am counting on you to help me identify candidates who hold firm to these principles, promote their campaigns, and financially support their efforts.

Please take a minute now to sign up for “My Huck PAC.”

With deep gratitude,
Mike Huckabee

The emphasis is mine. Do strong Republican candidates that he endorses include those who condone torture? His endorsement of Congressman Linder sure seems so, despite his weak statement from his executive director.

So, I ask you to join our campaign against torture by asking Governor Huckabee to take an unequivocal stance against it. Sign the petition. Join us. Add your voice and make Mr. Huckabee hear us loud and clear.

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We have been putting pressure on former Governor Huckabee for the last few weeks through our campaign, and as Pastor Dan noted its time to take it up a notch. This is especially true since we finally heard from Huck PAC’s Executive Director Sarah Huckabee in regards to two simple questions:

1. Will you affirm the Christian faith and the American principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by signing the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture?

2. Will you require the candidates supported by your PAC to take a stand against torture?

In my multiple efforts to get these easy questions answered by Huck PAC and Ms. Huckabee (the Governor’s daughter for anyone keeping score) my final response from them was:

My dad does not fill like it is appropriate to sign a pledge since he is not a candidate but he is against torture. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

First, there are so many things to take issue with on this statement from the Executive Director. I will ignore the typo of fill, which should be feel, because I have my fair share of them as well.

Yes, Mr. Huckabee is not a candidate, as of now. But in a few short months he could very well be John McCain’s running mate for the White House as he campaigns with McCain. We deserve to know more details and to have a pledge from a potential VP candidate when it comes to torture: a heinous act that has been used by the current administration.

Regardless of Mr. Huckabee’s candidacy, his new political action committee places him within a distinct leadership position within his party, his followers as well as a new leader in the Christian Right. Mr. Huckabee’s influence has far reaching potential to be a great leader on this moral issue, an issue that also addresses the sanctity of life that so many in the Christian right pride themselves on.

He is raising money and doing appearances for candidates that have supported the use of waterboarding as I have demonstrated before. Instead of taking the moral high ground and ask them to end their support of this practice in order to gain his backing he has opted to stay silent.

We are calling on him to publicly support the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture by signing onto the statement through a petition. His leadership would be instrumental in bringing about real change in a bipartisan manner. Because this should not be about which political party you belong to, it’s a matter of standing up for what is right.

We ask that you join us by asking Mr. Huckabee to also sign on. You can do so by signing and submitting the petition. The more people that do it the more they will know how much we care he joins us. But Mr. Huckabee would not just be teaming up with: Leith Anderson, Rich Cizik, Joe Carson, Rev. Randall Balmer, Joel Hunter, Becky Garrison, Brian McLaren, David Neff, Chrstine Pohl, and hundreds of others.

I will leave Mr. Huckabee with the challenging words of David Gushee to take a stand:

I believe that no evangelical leader has moral credibility who does not oppose torture unequivocally. I invite Governor Huckabee to sign our “Evangelical Declaration Against Torture” and to help end evangelical ambivalence about this issue. Based on statements he has made on this issue, I am hopeful he will do so. That will be real moral leadership!

So sign onto the petition, make your voice heard, and press Mr. Huckabee to show some real moral leadership.

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Our campaign of religious bloggers against torture is gaining steam. Pastor Dan was invited to discuss it on Religion Dispatches today provides a great context to why this issue and why now.

First we have an administration that actively sought a way to torture prisoners:

Now, they didn’t just approve those techniques: these leaders went into great detail about what would happen to the suspects. Over and over again, they talked about “whether [the suspects] would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding,” according to ABC News. “Waterboarding,” it should be noted, was classified as torture by the U.S. after WWII when several Japanese soldiers were convicted of war crimes for taking part in the practice.

A practice in which Japanese soldiers were convicted of war crimes! No wonder the administration has taken so many steps to try to protect themselves. But nothing will stop the simple fact that they actually condoned the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on their fellow human beings.

But why religious bloggers? Easy:

Religious people do care about torture and they do care about barbarism at the highest levels of their government. We recognize that we are all created in God’s image and that torture destroys that image as it dehumanizes both the tortured and the torturer.

We recognize, moreover, that torture is incompatible with the American values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our nation has often aspired to use its moral authority as a beacon of freedom, justice and democracy around the world. But torture is corrosive to these values. It eats through our moral standing like acid, leaving us unable to fulfill our self-appointed mission.

Our NEVER campaign is a call to our leaders to publicly denounce torture and help us end its practice, if they don’t join us then their silence is the complicity in this illegal and immoral practice.

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Last week I asked a few faith leaders their thoughts on former Governor Mike Huckabee’s newfound leadership in the Christian right and how it correlates to torture. After hearing back from Faith in Public Life’s executive director Rev. Jennifer Butler and UCC President Rev. John Thomas essentially saying that Huckabee can represent a bridge on this issue, we hear a little different from another leader.

Again the question:

As a faith leader yourself, and someone who has adamantly opposed torture, what do you believe former Governor Mike Huckabee’s role in condoning or opposing torture is in regards to his newfound leadership in the religious right?

David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, addressed torture at the recent Compassion Forum to Senator Barack Obama. He has some strong words for the former governor.

I believe that no evangelical leader has moral credibility who does not oppose torture unequivocally. I invite Governor Huckabee to sign our “Evangelical Declaration Against Torture” and to help end evangelical ambivalence about this issue. Based on statements he has made on this issue, I am hopeful he will do so. That will be real moral leadership!

Mr. Gushee’s remarks are in my opinion right on the mark. If Mr. Huckabee wishes to take on the role as the next leader of the Christian right with his newfound PAC, or as a few pundits have remarked – to be the vice presidential nominee, then he needs to show true moral leadership and take a stand against torture. He needs to join the thousands of people who are standing together to say that it is illegal and it is immoral.

That is what this campaign is all about – religious bloggers taking a stand and asking a leader to join us. We do not do this to score political points. We do this to say no more to a practice that threatens our nation’s standing around world as a beacon of freedom and democracy. Simply torture is un-American.

Mr. Gushee has invited Mr. Huckabee to sign the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture just as we have. It truly would be a sign of real moral leadership.

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Ok file this in just the most absurd category. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia tried to define torture as not being a punishment. (major hat tip to Beth at Faith in Public Life).

“I don’t like torture,” Scalia says. “Although defining it is going to be a nice trick. But who’s in favor of it? Nobody. And we have a law against torture. But if the – everything that is hateful and odious is not covered by some provision of the Constitution,” he says.

“If someone’s in custody, as in Abu Ghraib, and they are brutalized by a law enforcement person, if you listen to the expression ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ doesn’t that apply?” Stahl asks.

“No, No,” Scalia replies.

“Cruel and unusual punishment?” Stahl asks.

“To the contrary,” Scalia says. “Has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.”

“Well, I think if you are in custody, and you have a policeman who’s taken you into custody…,” Stahl says.

“And you say he’s punishing you?” Scalia asks.

“Sure,” Stahl replies.

“What’s he punishing you for? You punish somebody…,” Scalia says.

“Well because he assumes you, one, either committed a crime…or that you know something that he wants to know,” Stahl says.

“It’s the latter. And when he’s hurting you in order to get information from you…you don’t say he’s punishing you. What’s he punishing you for? He’s trying to extract…,” Scalia says.

“Because he thinks you are a terrorist and he’s going to beat the you-know-what out of you…,” Stahl replies.

“Anyway, that’s my view,” Scalia says. “And it happens to be correct.”

Mr. Scalia, I know that you are a Supreme Court Justice, have a law degree and decades of experience on the bench but seriously are you lacking common freaking sense? You want to take a literal approach to the Constitution Mr. Scalia? Alright, let’s look at two definitions. Punishment and torture.

Punishment:

1. the act of punishing.
2. the fact of being punished, as for an offense or fault.
3. a penalty inflicted for an offense, fault, etc.
4. severe handling or treatment.

Torture:

–noun
1. the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
2. a method of inflicting such pain.
3. Often, tortures. the pain or suffering caused or undergone.
4. extreme anguish of body or mind; agony.
5. a cause of severe pain or anguish.
–verb (used with object)
6. to subject to torture.
7. to afflict with severe pain of body or mind: My back is torturing me.
8. to force or extort by torture: We’ll torture the truth from his lips!
9. to twist, force, or bring into some unnatural position or form: trees tortured by storms.
10. to distort or pervert (language, meaning, etc.).

You’re a supposed Constitutional literalist Mr. Scalia. If a person with some common sense were to take the definition of those two words literally then it is easy to see that torture is punishment – physically, psychologically and emotionally. Its cruel and inhumane and its illegal as you note in the beginning, Mr. Scalia. If you can read Mr. Scalia punishment is used in the very definition of toture and the fourth definition of punishment is “severe handling or treatment.” You are parsing these two words to the extreme to allow a legal opening for the Bush administration to wiggle right through. As for this naïve piece of information Mr. Scalia:

But who’s in favor of it? Nobody. And we have a law against torture.

The person that you allowed to take the White House in 2000 is in favor of it and is violating the laws against torture. Have you read a newspaper lately Mr. Scalia? That’s just my view of the facts Mr. Scalia and I happen to be correct.

But more seriously… does anyone have a dictionary we can send Mr. Scalia?

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