Summary Report

The first conference of the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture (WRRCAT) achieved its two main goals:

To mobilize a large number of individuals and faith communities in the Washington region to commit to oppose U.S. torture policies; and
To draw the attention of the media and elected officials to the presence of a new voice on the issue.

Participation: The event was both an informative conference and the opportunity to begin the development of a long-term religious movement against torture. More than 250 individuals from more than 35 religious congregations and organizations registered for the six-hour program. Those in attendance heard from numerous speakers knowledgeable about the torture policies and practices of the United States, including Senator Carl Levin, Seymour Hersh, Jennifer Harbury, Elisa Massimino, and Ray McGovern. (For a complete list, please see the conference agenda.) The attendees participated vigorously in lunchtime breakout sessions and many expressed their commitment to take sustained action in concert with WRRCAT. Post-conference evaluations were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the speakers and about staying involved.

Particular focus was put on ways in which attendees could work to put the issue of torture on the agenda of their faith communities and mobilize active support.

Link with NRCAT: The grassroots event followed on the heels of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's seminal ad on the op-ed page of the New York Times, which publicly declared the unqualified opposition to torture of a highly inclusive range of senior religious leaders. The WRRCAT conference replicated in spirit this inclusiveness based on the almost universal condemnation of any and all torture by the religions of the world.

This demonstrated the potential of WRRCAT and NRCAT to bridge the misunderstanding and antagonism that sometimes exists between different faiths and different denominations. Opposition to torture goes to the heart of each faith and yet unites them across social, historical and theological barriers.

A recurrent theme was the potential for WRRCAT members to reach out to other faith communities, including some that might seem generally inhospitable, based on a shared belief in a spiritual dimension to life. Many participants supported the idea of reaching out simply to hear with humility and compassion what other faith communities are thinking about the issue of torture and to be ready, if asked, to share the thinking of WRRCAT.

In addition, there were many expressions of hope that WRRCAT could serve as a model for NRCAT to develop strong grassroots organizations around the country able to work in concert with NRCAT leaders to reach opinion leaders and decision makers in their respective regions.

Press Coverage: Television coverage included CNN, C-Span, WJLA-TV for part of the program and a local cable-access team for the entirety. Staff from the four local U.S. senators and eight local members of Congress were contacted, with at least one representative, Chris Van Hollen, sending a staff member to observe the whole program. Many activist and religious organizations helped to publicize the event and sent representatives.

The Program: The conference was bracketed by benedictions from Bishop John Chane, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; Rev. Scott Alexander, Senior Minister of River Road Unitarian; and Rev. Janet Parker of Rock Springs Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington, Va.

The first speaker was Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who detailed the struggle in the Congress to properly investigate administration policies and practices regarding torture and abuse of detainees, and to legislate against these abuses. Levin also discussed the key role of grassroots opposition, which he said would be essential to achieve any significant reform.

Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker magazine followed with a wide-ranging discussion of how torture and abuse have occurred as a result of the U.S.'s overall aggressive, unilateral "war on terror."

Elisa Massimino of Human Rights First described in detail the scope of the problem of U.S. torture, the damage it is inflicting around the world on efforts to oppose torture, the legal and constitutional violations underlying administration policies, and the status of litigation being pursued to curb U.S. torture and abuse.

Beth Pyles of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq provided personal testimony of the rampant arbitrary detention and abuse of civilians in Iraq, its impact on the population of Iraq and its view of the United States, and her own insights into the moral and spiritual evil that torture represents and engenders.

The hour and a half lunch break featured nine different small-group gatherings of about 25 persons each. Each person identified herself or himself, mentioning her or his faith community. After some discussion of the points made by the morning's speakers, the focus turned to specific ways that each person could advance the anti-torture cause, especially in her or his congregation. Suggestions for WRRCAT's best strategies were also discussed.

After lunch, Jennifer Harbury, a leader of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) detailed the history of U.S. covert involvement in torture since the 1950s, and gave a systematic refutation of arguments advanced in support of use of torture. Then TASSC member Mario Avila, a refugee from Guatemala, shared his own experience of being tortured by U.S.-backed government forces, and the context of repression of his indigenous community. Avila also recounted his success in being able to make a life in America and the importance of keeping torture from becoming an accepted element of U.S. policy.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and a lay leader of Church of the Saviour in Washington, called on ordinary Americans to acknowledge the truly insidious evil of torture and to spare no effort in raising the consciousness of their communities and their leaders to oppose without exception all forms of torture and abuse.

Jeanne Herrick-Stare of NRCAT and the Friends Committee on National Legislation outlined the progress being made in organizing faith leaders to come out against torture on the national level, and encouraged WRRCAT to continue to develop the crucial complement of grassroots organization and action.

Evaluations: The 79 post-conference evaluations submitted were extraordinarily favorable, with 70 giving highest marks for good organization and the rest giving the second highest mark. Seventy-four forms gave the speakers the top mark for being interesting and informative, with only one giving less than the second highest mark. On the 1 to 5 scale of how helpful the conference was in identifying specific steps to take to help stop torture, the breakdown was 33 fives, 18 fours, 14 threes, 6 twos, and no ones.

The three open-ended questions elicited an outpouring of responses of praise and appreciation, as well as many specific positive suggestions. Responses to the "didn't like" question were relatively few and mild.