Posted by Liz Kaplan, Legislative Assistant

This New Year brought with it another reason for the Human Rights and Civil Liberties community to celebrate: the signing into law of the McCain Amendment that bans “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” of U.S. detainees. While this step was encouraging in the fight to protect the human dignity of prisoners (a principle of Jewish law) much remains to be done on this issue, including making sure that the McCain Amendment is enforced as intended, ending the practice of rendition of U.S. detainees to countries that practice torture, and authorizing an independent commission to fully investigate the detention and interrogation practices of those involved with the U.S. war on terror.

That is why this weekend’s interfaith conference at Princeton Theological Seminary, “Theology, International Law, and Torture,” was so exciting. Attended by over 150 religious leaders from across the U.S. and the religious spectrum, the conference brought together a variety of religious scholars, Washington advocates, former military, and survivors of torture themselves to help participants understand not only the moral egregiousness of torture but also several theories for its continued practice. While it is impossible to discuss all of the interesting points that were raised during the conference here, it is worth describing just a few of the highlights:

• Retired Rear Admiral John Hutson and Army General Richard O’Meara, both lifelong Republicans and signers of a statement by former military officers in support of the McCain Amendment, spoke passionately about the connection between winning the war on terror, maintaining military morale as well as the rule of law, and preparing U.S. troops for the challenging moral conundrums they may face on and off the battlefield;
• Professor Kim Lane Scheppele of the Woodrow Wilson School and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton debunked the “ticking time bomb” scenario as a justification for torture in interrogations related to the U.S. war on terror, arguing that the scenario relies on the existence of so many unlikely and unpredictable variables that it would be impossible to establish bureaucratic rules to govern them; and
• Rabbi Saul Berman, Director of Edah, a modern Orthodox organization, explained how and why Jewish law explicitly protects the dignity of convicts and of the accused, emphasizing that the human body is the instrument of God’s will for the production of holiness in the world and that an assault on the body (including any corporal punishment in addition to that which is assigned as punishment for a crime) is therefore an assault on God’s will.

There were also opportunities for members of different religious communities to strategize about how to encourage discussion and activism on the issue of torture, and the RAC webpage will keep you updated as new ways to get involved arise. In the mean time, visit Rabbis for Human Rights, North America's website to view a variety of Jewish materials related to torture, and Human Rights First's Stop Torture Now campaign page for more information on the McCain Amendment and other anti-torture legislation.