UCC United Church of Christ's Thomas Speaks Against Torture

Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Written by J. Bennett Guess
June 25, 2008

"Today I join many in saying to my President, 'not in my name,'" said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, in a widely covered news conference held on June 25. "Not in my name will you justify torture and allow it to be used."

As a representative of the UCC's national setting, Thomas is part of a diverse coalition of 200 high-profile religious leaders, government officials and military officers who are calling on President Bush to ban torture.

Thomas spoke to multiple reporters from national media outlets, as did the Rev. David P. Gushee, president, Evangelicals for Human Rights; Alberto Mora, former general counsel to the U.S. Navy; Retired General Paul J. Kern, who led the internal Army investigation of abuses at Abu Ghraib; and Douglas A. Johnson, executive director of the Center for Victims of Torture ...

The bipartisan, interfaith coalition includes former national security and defense officials from the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bush Administrations, as well as leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths ...

http://www.wfn.org/2008/06/msg00176.html