Southside Presbyterian Church, Tucscon, AZ. Photo courtesy of NRCAT.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is encouraging American congregations to display a banner during the months of November 2008 and January 2009 calling for the president to issue an executive order banning torture. Over 330 churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship—in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.—displayed anti-torture banners during the month of June 2008, Torture Awareness Month. Most of the banners read "Torture is a Moral Issue" or "Torture is Wrong."

Supported by OSI, NRCAT is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. The campaign's mission is to end America's use of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in the "war on terror." In the two and a half years since its founding, NRCAT's membership has grown dramatically to over 220 religious organizations from the Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical, Unitarian, Quaker, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh faith communities.

The campaign seeks to garner support for an Executive Order to implement a carefully drafted “Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner Treatment, Torture and Cruelty.” Current endorsers of the declaration include former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Ambassador Richard Armitage and nearly 6,000 other people of faith.

For more information or to order banners, see the NRCAT website.