Action suggestion from National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is making June 2008 the month for “Banners Across America”! Congregations of all sizes, from every state and all faiths, are asked to join in a public witness against torture by displaying a banner outside their place of worship during Torture Awareness Month (June).
Click here for complete information about the project and to place an order. You can choose from two sizes and two designs, as well as an option to customize your banner to include the name of your congregation. The cost ranges from $100 to $175, including shipping.
You can also purchase a banner from another source or use one you already have. Just tell John Humphries (see below) that your congregation will display a banner in June, so NRCAT will know that your congregation and your state will be participating.
Your congregation’s participation will help to raise the visibility of NRCAT’s national campaign in at least three ways:
- It will provide an opportunity for members of your congregation to talk together about the continuing shame of torture as government policy and about the role of religious people in speaking out on this moral issue.
- It will put your congregation on record as opposing torture, in a very public way, and can encourage other local congregations to join you in a collective witness in your community.
- It will help NRCAT document a nationwide religious resolve to end torture through a coordinated media effort to draw attention to specific communities with significant numbers of banners, as well as the breadth of participation across the entire country.
At the end of the project, NRCAT wants to produce a poster with photos of banners hung on a variety of houses of worship. NRCAT will deliver a copy of the poster to every member of Congress and the president, and will make it available for purchase.
You can help NRCAT achieve these ambitious goals by:
- Visiting the Banners Across America webpage (accessible via one of the red boxes in the center of the NRCAT homepage, www.tortureisamoralissue.org) to get the complete information;
- Encouraging your congregation to purchase a banner and display it during June 2008;
- Sending NRCAT a digital photograph of the banner hanging outside your house of worship so it can be posted on the website and possibly used for a national poster.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact NRCAT's Director for Program Coordination, John Humphries, at 860-216-7972 or jhumphries@nrcat.org.