TORTURE: Pax Christi USA signs onto letters to Sarah Palin, NRA

Pax Christi USA Executive Director Sr. Patricia Chappell, SNDdeN, signed onto the letters cited below in the press release from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

WASHINGTON – Today, religious leaders sent letters to the National Rifle Association and Sarah Palin, asking them to denounce torture and to apologize to the U.S. Muslim and Christian communities for statements made by Palin at the NRA’s Annual Meeting in Indianapolis this past weekend. Referring to those whom she declares have “information on plots to carry out jihad,” Ms. Palin said on Saturday, “If I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we’d baptize terrorists.”

The letters were organized by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and eighteen religious leaders signed the letter to the NRA. Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, sent the letter to Palin under his own name.

As the letter to the NRA says, “For Christians, baptism is a profoundly holy act. It is in stark contrast to the abhorrent act of waterboarding. Equating baptism to an act of torture like waterboarding is sacrilegious – and particularly surprising coming from a person who prides herself on her Christian faith.”

The text of both the letters are available at: letter to the NRA and the letter to Sarah Palin.