Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Faith Organizations Oppose Haspel Nomination Based on Her Record on Torture - National Religious Campaign Against Torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Faith Organizations
Oppose Haspel Nomination Based on Her Record on Torture

WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, May 8, letters from national Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish organizations opposing Gina Haspel's nomination to be CIA Director because of her record on torture were delivered to the offices of all U.S. Senators.

Representing 30 million church members in 38 denominations with over 100,000 local congregations, Jim Winkler, the President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches wrote: "Confirming Haspel will be widely understood as a message that the U.S. accepts torture and it will be used by tyrants and dictators to justify both torture and a legion of other human rights abuses...I pray that you and your colleagues will consider the deep cost of promoting someone who supervised torture to be the CIA Director and will ultimately choose to oppose this nomination." For the full text of the letter, see http://www.nrcat.org/ncc-letter-haspel-nomination

Eight different national Catholic organizations also weighed in, writing that "using basic moral standards for human dignity disqualifies her [Haspel] from leading the agency" and that confirming Haspel "would also be understood as a message of support for torture by our President – who has repeatedly stated his personal interest in restarting the torture program." They also noted that if Haspel is confirmed, "American Catholic pastoral and humanitarian aid workers would be distrusted and endangered." For the full text of the letter, see http://www.nrcat.org/catholic-letter-on-haspel-nomination

In a letter signed by over 200 Rabbis, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights wrote "a vote to confirm her [Haspel] is incompatible with any kind of meaningful commitment to the prohibition on torture and so-called 'enhanced interrogation.'" It follows by saying: "As Jews, we believe that every human being is created in God's image. This assertion applies to all people, friend or enemy. The shame and humiliation caused by torture degrade the divine spark inherent in each of us. Furthermore, the Torah commands not to inflict punishments that degrade the perpetrator." For the full text of the letter, see http://www.nrcat.org/truah-letter-haspel-nomination

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
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