All Saints Church Rector Involved In Anti-Torture White House Event

As reported in Pasadena Now:

The rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena will be involved in an anti-torture gathering in front of the White House on Thursday, according to a news release issued by the church.

Rev. Ed Bacon, who heads the church as rector, will stand with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) with dozens of other religious leaders from all over the United States, according to the news release issued Tuesday.

Bacon and other members of NRCAT are devoted to ending U.S.-sanctioned torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishments against people.

“I am going to Washington to thank the president for taking unequivocally strong moral measures against torture in the first months of his presidency,” said Bacon. “His decision to release the CIA memos, his plans to close Guantanamo Bay prison, and the executive order banning torture all send a message that torture is wrong, illegal, and immoral without exception. His actions signal that the president seeks to return the United States to the rule of law and to restore the U.S.’s moral stature in the global community.”

Following the White House event, Bacon and other invited religious leaders will meet with senior members of President Barack Obama’s administration to deliver a letter urging him to establish a fact-finding commission to investigate U.S. cases of torture that have happened since September 11, 2001.

“Now, we U.S. citizens must support him in making sure that torture is ended indeed and work together to establish safeguards to ensure that U.S.-sponsored torture never happens again,” Bacon said. “A Commission of Inquiry is the only guarantee of a future without torture.”