This June, the National Religious Campaign Agains Torutre (NRCAT) invites you and your faith community to mark Torture Awareness Month. We have prepared a free toolkit with bulletin inserts and posters and below are other ideas to mark Torture Awareness Month in your congregation or religious organization.
The toolkit includes:
- Bulletin Inserts:
- One on the report from the Task Force on Detainee Treatment and calling for public release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture - Download
- One on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails and detention centers - Download - Poster - Download 8.5" by 11" size or 8.5" by 14" size
Other ideas to mark Torture Awareness Month in your congregation or community include:
Ending U.S.-sponsored torture -- forever
Unfortunately the past few years have seen positive statements about torture and published memoirs by top government officials who authorized the use of torture, as well as the positive portrayal of torture by some media outlets and in popular entertainment. We must challenge these views that are rooted in fear with a perspective grounded in the values of our faith traditions.
- Urge your congregation to use worship resources addressing the culture of torture during worship services in June.
- Collect names on the "A Call for the Facts" petition. Add your own name and then download it in PDF and take to your congregation or community event to get signatures.
- Order, display and distribute NRCAT banners and bumper stickers. If your congregation already owns a NRCAT banner we encourage you to display it during Torture Awareness Month. If it doesn’t, you may wish to order a banner to mark the month with a strong anti-torture public witness.
- Organize a screening of NRCAT's film Ending U.S.-Sponsored Torture Forever in your congregation or community.
- Organize a vigil or other public event on June 26 to mark UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims, or on another day in June to mark Torture Awareness Month.
End prolonged solitary confinement
The most common and pervasive example of torture in the U.S. today is found in our prison system. Prisoners held in solitary confinement are often detained in a cell by themselves for 23 hours a day, sometimes for years, or even decades. Due to its destructive physical and psychological effects, such treatment has long been considered torture. Efforts to limit the use of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. prisons are gaining momentum in a number of states, but many public officials and citizens still advocate for this inhumane practice.
- Urge your congregation to use worship resources addressing the culture of torture during worship services in June.
- Provide an opportunity for people in your congregation to add their name to the petition "End Prolonged Solitary Confinement Now." When we reach 500 signatures in a state, we'll send it to the governor, state legislature, and top corrections official. If you haven't done so yet, click here to add your own name.
- Order, display and distribute NRCAT banners and bumper stickers. New bumper stickers coming soon and "solitary confinement = torture" t-shirts are available from t-shirtsforpeace.org.
- Organize a screening of NRCAT’s film Solitary Confinement: Torture in Your Backyard in your congregation or community.
- Organize a vigil or other public event in June. You might have it on June 26 to mark UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims.
