The moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches released a Pastoral Statement on Iraq today. It read in part:
As people of faith, we adamantly believe that all people are entitled to humane treatment, free of torture, degradation and abuse. Metropolitan Community Churches joins a growing chorus of international voices in condemning the conduct that occurred in the Iraqi prisons as violations of commonly held moral tenets and accepted international standards.Metropolitan Community Churches especially condemns the use of sexuality as an instrument of torture, shame, and intimidation. Our physical bodies and sexuality are good gifts that God has given us, to be used wisely, for our pleasure and wholeness. There can be no justification for forcing sexual acts upon human beings against their will. That prisoners were forced to perform sexual acts that violate their religious principles and personal consciences is particularly heinous.
It is also a sign of our society's deeply troubled relationship with sexuality that homosexual acts were considered by the perpetrators to be acceptable forms of torture, shame and humiliation.
We are further deeply disappointed to learn that the governments of United States, Great Britain and Australia were informed of the prison violations many months ago, yet took no public action to stop it.
You can read the full statement here.
