Click here to download a copy of the interfaith prayer in MS Word.

Click here to download a copy of the interfaith prayer in PDF format.

Jewish prayers are also available from Rabbis for Human Rights.

Please incorporate this prayer into religious services during the weekend of June 6-8 to observe the first full weekend of Torture Awareness Month. (You may also decide to use it each week throughout the month.)

Two months ago, President Bush vetoed legislation that would have banned the use of torture by US intelligence services. We worked hard to win passage of that legislation by both houses of Congress. This June we will publicly recommit ourselves, as people of faith, to continuing the struggle to end US-sponsored torture.

June 26th is United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture . A few years ago, religious and human rights organizations in the United States declared the month of June to be Torture Awareness Month as a way to provide greater visibility to this issue and provide an opportunity for coordinated actions across the country.

This June, NRCAT is collaborating with Rabbis for Human Rights to encourage faith communities to incorporate a “Prayer of Recommitment” into religious services during the weekend of June 6-8 (and throughout the month). Offering a prayer is a simple but very important way to ask God to help us be faithful in this work, to raise awareness within our congregations and to join our voices with others all across the country. We offer this prayer as our government continues to assert the right to use interrogation tactics that torture other human beings.

In March of 2008, those of us working to halt US-sponsored torture won a tremendous legislative victory when both houses of Congress passed legislation (H.R. 2082) that would have banned torture by requiring all elements of the U.S. intelligence community to abide by the restrictions in the Army Field manual while conducting interrogations. President Bush, however, vetoed the legislation, and the House of Representatives failed to override the veto. (To see how your Representative voted, click here.)

Also in March, the Justice Department sent a letter to Congress arguing that "intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law."

As people of faith with a conviction that torture is morally wrong, we are deeply saddened by this failure to prohibit the use of waterboarding, mock executions, induced hypothermia and other forms of torture. When we abandon the moral values which we have championed since the founding of our nation, we forfeit our greatest source of strength and global leadership. By vetoing H.R. 2082, the President chose to defy not only the will of both houses of Congress but also the will of the American people to uphold our deepest convictions.

As religious people, we now recommit ourselves to the important work of healing the soul of our nation and healing the wounds inflicted on those who have been tortured. As long as they continue to suffer, we must not forget the "fierce urgency of now." Torture is a moral issue, and by working together to end U.S.-sponsored torture we will try to be faithful to a God who demands that we respect the dignity of all human beings.

Click here to download a copy of the interfaith prayer in MS Word.

Click here to download a copy of the interfaith prayer in PDF format.

Jewish prayers are also available from Rabbis for Human Rights.