NRCAT Press Releases

For Immediate Release:
July 22, 2009

National Religious Campaign Against Torture statement on the delay of the release of the Special Task Force recommendations on Interrogation and Transfer Policies

Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director:

“Given the complexity of the topics the Task Force has been assigned, the two month extension is a reasonable request.  It is essential that the Task Force gets this right.

The fallout from the U.S. government’s use of interrogation techniques that the world regards as torture has been universally damaging.  Most Americans recoil at the idea that we as a nation would use torture, even in a time of war.  Acting in panic and haste, our previous leaders did grave harm to our nation’s standing in the world.  Better for the Task Force to take additional time to get it right, than to risk getting it wrong again.”

For immediate release
June 11, 2009

National Religious Campaign Against Torture Issues Statement Following Delegation Meeting with Obama Administration Officials

Contact:  Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, DC – Following a meeting today between 33 senior religious leaders and senior Obama administration officials, Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture issued the following statement:

For immediate release – June 11, 2009

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

Prominent Religious Leaders Urge President Obama to Create a “Commission of Inquiry” on U.S.-Sponsored Torture

Declaring “only the truth can set us free,”
religious leaders convey the moral necessity of a Commission

Contact:  Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it           

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, eight heads of faith groups and other religious institutions joined other prominent clergy in standing with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and hundreds of individuals of faith at a public witness in front of the White House (in Lafayette Square), issuing a strong plea to President Obama to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S.-sponsored torture that occurred post-9/11.  Following the public witness, a delegation of 33 religious leaders met with senior Obama administration officials in the Old Executive Office Building.  (A separate statement about this meeting will be released later this afternoon.)  At this meeting, the leaders delivered a letter to President Obama, the text of which is at the bottom of this email, signed by 51 religious leaders.

Washington, DC -- In response to a recently released survey from the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life on attitudes toward torture among various religious denominations, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture held a telephone press conference with prominent religious leaders this morning. 

WASHINGTON D.C. -- A coalition of 19 human rights, faith-based, and justice organizations today launched a campaign to urge President Obama to appoint a commission to investigate torture sanctioned by the Bush administration. The group calls on Americans to sign an online petition, www.CommissionOnAccountability.org, advocating that President Obama establish an “independent, non-partisan commission to examine and report publicly on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in the period since September 11, 2001."

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

For Immediate Release -- April 23, 2009

National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)
Calls Any Delay of Commission on Torture a Mistake;
Asks President Obama to Act if Congress Doesn't

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

For Immediate Release – April 16, 2009

Following Leak of ICRC Report and Release of Office of Legal Counsel Memos, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) Urges Immediate Congressional Approval of a Commission of Inquiry

NRCAT: “We must, as a nation, address the fact that high-ranking officials in our government authorized torture and that agents representing our country carried out acts of torture in our name.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) sent letters to the leadership of both houses of Congress renewing its call for a “Commission of Inquiry” to investigate the authorization and use of torture in light of recent revelations confirming the widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees after 9/11.  [The text of this letter is included below.]

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

For Immediate Release – March 16, 2009

National Religious Campaign Against Torture Reiterates Call for “Commission of Inquiry” in Light of Leaked ICRC Report Detailing Horrific Acts of Torture by U.S. Agents

NRCAT: “We must hold the leaders who ordered these acts accountable.”

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

For Immediate Release – March 3, 2009

Prominent Religious Leaders Call for “Commission of Inquiry” on Torture as Senator Leahy Launches Hearings to Establish
“Truth” Commission

National Religious Campaign Against Torture to submit statement to Leahy along with testimony for hearing

Contact: Steve Fox, Fenton Communications, 202-822-5200 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT, at 202-547-1920 (cell 207-450-7242) or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) released a statement calling for an impartial, nonpartisan, and independent “Commission of Inquiry” to investigate U.S.-sponsored torture and to ascertain the extent to which Bush administration interrogation practices constituted "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."  The statement has been signed by nearly two dozen prominent religious leaders, representing a broad array of religious denominations.  Signatories include Rev. Dr. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ; Dr. Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America; Rev. Dr. David Gushee, President, Evangelicals for Human Rights; and Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center, Union of Reform Judaism.   

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

For Immediate Release – January 22, 2009

National Religious Campaign Against Torture Lauds President Obama for Issuing Executive Order Ending Torture -- Expresses Caution about the Task Force