In a letter, Galen Carey, NAE Vice President for Government Relations, thanked the Senate Intelligence Committee for its multi-year study on the use of torture by the CIA and asked it to take the next step in declassifying the report including appropriate redactions.

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
The Honorable Saxby Chambliss
Chair and Ranking Member, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
211 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

cc: All members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Dear Senators:

Thank you for commissioning and overseeing a detailed multi-year study on the use of torture by the CIA. We now ask that you vote to declassify your report, with appropriate redactions. This is an essential step to confronting the truth about the past and preventing future abuses.

Our nation is best defended by upholding human rights and human dignity, and by safeguarding the sanctity of human life. The use of torture degrades our moral standing and makes it more difficult for the United States to oppose the use of torture in other countries.

In 2007, the National Association of Evangelicals, representing 40 denominations with more than 45,000 congregations, adopted an Evangelical Declaration Against Torture, which states in part:

We renounce the resort to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees, call for the extension of procedural protections and human rights to all detainees, seek clear government-wide embrace of the Geneva Conventions, including those articles banning torture and cruel treatment of prisoners, and urge the reversal of any U.S. government law, policy, or practice that violates the moral standards outlined in this declaration (see An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture).

Releasing your report is an important step in transparent governance and accountability. Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely,

Galen Carey
Vice President, Government Relations
National Association of Evangelicals