As I reported here last fall, a local Church here in my neighborhood had a big sign out front that said.. "Our Faith Community" and another "SAYS" ...
Sadly, someone stole the signs. I confirmed this by e-mailing the Church. Their comm director e-mailed me back confirming the theft, but thanking me for putting up the pictures. She said
Many thanks for your feedback. It's heartening to know we do not exist in a vacuum.
Well there's a new sign up in front of the Ladera Community Church.
Yes, Torture Is Wrong I made a video of their sign but it's taking forever to process. I'll update when it does.
If you would like to give any feedback to the LCC please comment and I'll pass it along.
NRCAT Video: Stop Torture Now: (Runtime: 5:58)
I wish I didn't know it, now that I know it. I have to do something.
The NRCAT Video: Torture Is A Moral Issue (Runtime: 55 Seconds)
The national Day of Action was co-sponsored by the ACLU, Amnesty International (USA), the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and more than 90 other groups. Learn more at juneaction.org and aclu.org/mca.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler at Washington, D.C. Day of Action. June 27, 2007.
and Rep. Dennis Kucinich rocked the house in his usual chipper manner. June 27, 2007.
Senator Tom Harkin gave a rousing speech as well.
We don't need Patriot Acts, we need acts of Patriots...
We now have four branches of government, the Legislative, the Executive, the Judicial, and the cheney branch
Others to speak were
Senator Patrick Leahy
Reverend Lennox Yearwood CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus
Anthony D. Romero ACLU Executive Director
From the NRCAT website..
Good Things to Do to End U.S. Sponsored Torture
- Encourage your congregation to join NRCAT in giving thanks for President Obama’s signing of an executive order halting the use of torture. Click here to download a bulletin insert that includes a prayer of thanksgiving and a description of the critical next steps in our longer campaign to end U.S.-sponsored torture. Click here to access other ideas and resources for offering thanks through words and action.
- Seventeen ethnic Uighurs, in their seventh year of indefinite military detention in the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, remain there nearly four months after a federal judge ruled that their continued detention was unlawful and ordered their release into the USA. NRCAT joins with the 100 Days Campaign in calling upon the Obama Administration to release the Uighurs as an important "first step" in implementing the executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Click here for more information and instructions for calling the White House to advocate for the Uighurs’ release.
- Naji Hamdan is a Lebanese-born U.S.-citizen who was a long-time resident of CA and had been active in a mosque affiliated with the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, an NRCAT member group. Hamdan was been detained and allegedly tortured in the United Arab Emirates, apparently at the behest of the U.S. government. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has taken up Mr. Hamdan’s case and has created this advocacy document for approaching Members of Congress. Amnesty International also issued this recent action alert about the case.
- Order copies of the poster depicting some of the anti-torture banners that were displayed by more than 330 congregations across the nation in June 2008. Display a poster in your congregation and other congregations in your community. Click here for more information.
- Order and display a banner on the exterior of your congregation to highlight the need to end torture. Click here for more information.
I don't have much to add, I just really appreciate what this Church and others are doing. I'm not a deeply religious person, although I was raised Quaker. I haven't attended meeting for years now, though if you pressed me, I'd still say I'm Quaker. I love the nonviolence aspect, although that does clash somewhat with the violent stories of the Bible read within Sunday school. I appreciate the Bible now more than I did as a child frankly as youngster I preferred the Berenstain bears.
My one great memory of my grandparents' meeting was seeing my grandfather stand up in meeting and talk to his community. There was something about it that was just special. I remember feeling this is an important time in my life and I need to pay attention to what he said. Sadly, I don't remember what it was. But, I remember feeling proud. I never felt that way again about a Church for quite sometime. We moved to California and I didn't care much for the meeting here. Maybe it's because my grandpa wasn't there. He would be proud of this Church here, and what work we (at dKos) do to make things right.