THE TORTURE REPORT
The Hollywood film The Torture Report, starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening, tells the story of U.S. Senate staffer Dan Jones leading an investigation into the CIA's torture program. As Jones uncovers the truth – that torture was not only brutal and immoral, but also ineffective – the CIA works to prevent his findings from ever being made public. Watch The Report on Amazon Prime.
The Report is political drama about the CIA torture program and the attempt to cover up both the program and its failures. Patriotic in the best sense of the word, it shows how a small number of morally committed people can uncover the truth and achieve change – even when opposed by powerful institutions.
TOOLKIT FOR CONGREGATIONAL SCREENINGS OF THE REPORT FILM
The Toolkit includes a synopsis of the film, how to view the film, suggestions of action steps for screening attendees (including contacting their Members of Congress), questions for discussion, background information about the Senate's Torture Report, and highlights of the role the faith community played in putting a stop to CIA torture. >> Download the Toolkit
ORGANIZE A SCREENING OF THE REPORT FILM
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is organizing congregational and community screenings of The Report. The movie is now available on Amazon Prime at https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07YVLLKLW. If you are interested in showing the film in your congregation please complete this brief form.
TAKE ACTION: ASK CONGRESS TO RELEASE THE FULL TORTURE REPORT
A decade is more than long enough for the CIA to hide the truth about torture. Send an email to your Members of Congress asking for the full 6,000 page Torture Report to be made public.
WRITE AN OP-ED OR LETTER TO THE EDITOR
NRCAT is working with faith leaders to publish op-eds and letters to the editor in opposition to torture. Let us know of your interest or request more information through this brief form.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SENATE'S TORTURE REPORT
To learn more about the Torture Report (the 6,000 page report detailing the CIA's brutal and ineffective torture program that the film title refers to) check out this two-page fact sheet.
Almost six years after the Senate began investigating the CIA’s treatment of detainees, two years after the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to adopt its torture report, and eight months after that committee held a bipartisan vote in favor of releasing its findings, the more than 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report was made public on December 9, 2014.
ROLE OF THE FAITH COMMUNITY IN OPPOSING TORTURE
People of faith have been leaders in the fight to end torture. The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) was founded in 2006 by leaders of the American faith community who were horrified by the Abu Ghraib photos and other evidence of torture committed during the Bush Administration. In 2007 NRCAT, in partnership with the Center for Victims of Torture, drafted principles for an executive order that would immediately end the torture program. Thanks in part to significant public support from the faith community – reflected in over 300 hundred anti-torture banners hung outside of churches and temples and other places of worship across the country – President Obama issued that order on the second full day of his presidency.
The faith community led the call for a congressional investigation of U.S. torture, and, when it appeared that the Senate Intelligence Committee might not release the results of its investigation, people of faith held vigils, organized rallies, signed petitions, and published op-eds calling for the results to be made public in newspapers in every state in the Union.
Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, and people of many other faiths fought together to pass legislation banning the CIA from ever again re-starting its torture program. Senator McCain read portions of letters from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals in support of the legislation on the Senate floor in order to build bi-partisan support for legislating against CIA torture.
