Gonzalez: Torture & Prayer

Unfortunately, Alberto Gonzalez was sworn in yesterday as the new US Attorney General. The Senate confirmation vote was 60-36, with all of the "no" votes coming from Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent Jim Jeffords of Vermont.

"Mr. Gonzales was at the heart of the Bush administration's notorious decision to authorize our forces to commit flagrant acts of torture in the interrogation of detainees," said Sen. Edward Kennedy. "The war room in the White House became the torture room."

I thought the following was interesting, unusual, and much needed response to the Gonzalez candidacy:

As Senate Votes On Gonzales Nomination,
Faith Leaders Seek Forgiveness

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As the United States Senate votes to confirm Judge Alberto Gonzales as the next US Attorney General, religious leaders are seeking forgiveness.

Sister Dianna Ortiz, a US-born survivor of torture in Guatemala, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director of The Shalom Center, and Dr. George Hunsinger, Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and organizer of Church Folks for a Better America, today offered prayers seeking forgiveness for the US government's complicity in torture and for confirming a man who contributed to such an inconsistent policy.

The three were part of a group of more than 225 religious leaders who last month signed an open letter to Gonzales asking him to embrace and advance standards of international law and honor the dignity of all God's creation. Organized by Church Folks for a Better America, the list of signatories to the letter includes Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders from across the United States. The letter and full list of signatories is available at www.cfba.info

Dr. Hunsinger explained the impetus for offering the prayers, "As we continue to lament our government's refusal to abolish torture in all its forms, we pause to ask God to forgive us for our failures." Hunsinger continued, "While we cannot stop his confirmation, we can ask for forgiveness for our inability to stop it and for our leaders' who have in effect endorsed torture by voting for him."

Excerpts from the prayers:

Sister Dianna Ortiz, a US-born survivor of torture in Guatemala.

"In the name of the tortured Christ of yesterday and today, we cry out to our leaders to repent...You who lead us swear to God in solemn oaths, and bow your heads in reverential prayers. How can you gaze upon the tortured Jesus hanging on the cross when you do the same to others? There is no redemption without forgiveness, but there is no forgiveness without repentance. And so, we, entwined in the sin you have sown, to the tortured Christ of yesterday and today, do say, forgive us for our failure our leaders have imposed."

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director of The Shalom Center

"We confess to you that our rulers have -- by torturing prisoners -- tortured, tormented, and defiled Your Image; have poured forth pain, contempt, humiliation, and death rather than compassion on those who, as prisoners, can do no harm; have inflicted rather than relieving suffering and despair. You Who are the Giver of Law, we confess to you that our rulers have violated the law that all humanity has agreed to in the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture, forbidding the use of torture against such prisoners; have violated our own Constitution, which forbids "cruel and unusual punishments"; and have violated laws passed by our own Congress to forbid torture."

Dr. George Hunsinger, Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systemic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and organizer of Church Folks for a Better America.

"Today is a day of national shame in which we have all been made accomplices in torture. Officials tolerating the intolerable have been rewarded, while we ourselves have acquiesced, and no one in high places has been held accountable. We cry out to you, O God, for forgiveness and deliverance -- for our nation, for our leaders, and for ourselves."