Editor’s Note: Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase and Ed Brogan, Director of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel, are planning a meeting in Miami, Fla., January 6 – 7, 2006 on the issue of the use of torture by the United States.
We are inviting concerned people of faith to gather in Miami for a time of spiritual renewal in an age of violence, a public witness and worship on the beach that will call on our leaders to live up to the most noble of our country’s ideals, and a strategy session about how we might encourage a grass-roots movement of Presbyterians to stand unequivocally against the use of torture by our government and to name the ideals that might lead us to authentic security.
We are asking Presbyterians to pray, study and take action to assure that there will be no unjust and abusive treatment of detainees by the United States and its allies. This statement is an extension of a quickly growing grassroots effort to educate people about the use of torture and the urgent need to call for an immediate end of these practices, wherever they occur.
There is now clear and compelling evidence that the U.S. government has routinely turned to torture as an appropriate tool in the “War on Terror.” As I have traveled this year, I have asked Presbyterians to think carefully about the growing level of violence (torture, militarized borders, security checkpoints, and the War against Iraq) that our government has employed on our behalf in its earnest quest for security in a time of violence. I have insisted, and continue to insist, that this is a deeply theological challenge. As Christians, we know that genuine security is found only in Jesus Christ, whom we discover as we read and re-read Scripture while we seek to live Christ’s example in the world around us.
Each week, sometimes every day, Presbyterians pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The question is, do we believe that we are tasked with creating that beloved community — the authentic reign of God that God so desires for us — here on earth, or do we just mouth the words?
The invitation to the meeting, along with a biblically-grounded study guide from the Reformed perspective, is available online at www.no2torture.org We have issued a particular call to those churches that have signed the Presbyterian Commitment to Peacemaking. That letter, and related resources, are available at www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/torturestatement .
It is true that the General Assembly has affirmed its strong opposition to the use of torture by our government. Technically, as Moderator of the General Assembly, I would be on solid ground if I chose to make a public statement on this matter, and my judgment is that our national staff would be on equally solid ground if they chose to create programmatic responses to torture and encourage the use of those resources in churches throughout the denomination.
Here’s the problem. My sixteen months as moderator have left me deeply dissatisfied with that way of doing business. Many, many Presbyterians are extremely mistrustful of anything that the General Assembly does “in their name.” When we do choose to speak out on issues like this in this way, there is little confidence that we have the support of a genuine plurality of our members.
Further, too many Presbyterians who care deeply about difficult matters … have become complacent. Instead of doing the difficult work of building a solid, scripturally and prayerfully grounded consensus in our own churches and among our own friends, we sit back to wait for our national staff to do the work for us. Over several generations, we’ve come to believe that the most effective way to organize in the church around matters of conscience is to write an overture seeking an action by our General Assembly. Instead, I believe we should be doing the hard work of educating ourselves to create a grassroots consensus across the church, and then organizing the church as a movement to take action on what we say we believe.
I’m not suggesting that there is no role for a General Assembly that seeks to understand God’s will for the church and proclaim Christ’s Good News to the world on behalf of all of us. However, that cannot replace the work that we must do to build a genuine consensus across the church and to encourage our members to take action on the things that matter to us the most.
Rick Ufford-Chase of Tucson, Ariz., is Moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
