The United States Senate Judiciary Committee will begin holding hearings this week on the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to serve as the new US Attorney General.  Over 250 religious leaders have written Mr. Gonzales asking that he "declare that any attempt to undermine international standards on torture, renditions, or habeas corpus is not only wrong but sinful."  I am one of those who has signed the letter.  Mr. Gonzales is the current White House counsel that declared torture can be used by the United States.  Here is the text of the letter which was released at a press conference this morning:

January 4, 2005

Hon. Alberto R. Gonzales

Counsel to the President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC   20500

Dear Judge Gonzales:

We, the undersigned religious leaders, greet your nomination to be Attorney General of the United States with grave concern.

As a self-professed evangelical Christian, you surely know that all people are created in the image of God. You see it as a moral imperative to treat each human being with reverence and dignity. We invite you to affirm with us that we are all are made in the image of God – every human being. We invite you to acknowledge that no legal category created by mere mortals can revoke that status. You understand that torture – the deliberate effort to undermine human dignity – is a grave sin and affront to God. You would not deny that the systemic use of torture on prisoners at Abu Ghraib was fundamentally immoral, as is the deliberate rendering of any detainee to authorities likely to commit torture.

We urge you to declare that any attempt to undermine international standards on torture, renditions, or habeas corpus is not only wrong but sinful. We are concerned that as White House counsel you have shown a troubling disregard for international laws against torture, for the legal rights of suspected "enemy combatants," and for the adverse consequences your decisions have had at home and abroad.

How could you have written a series of legal memos that disrespected international law and invited these abuses? How could you have justified the use of torture and disavowed protections for prisoners of war? How could you have referred to the Geneva Conventions as “quaint” and “obsolete.” We fear that your legal judgments have paved the way to torture and abuse.

We therefore call upon you

•  To denounce the use of torture under any circumstances;

•  To affirm, with the Supreme Court, that it is unconstitutional to imprison anyone designated as an "enemy combatant" for months without access to lawyers or the right to challenge their detentions in court;

•  To affirm the binding legality of the Geneva Conventions and the laws of war;

•  And to reject the practice of "extraordinary rendition," at home and abroad, by which terrorist suspects are sent to countries that practice torture for interrogation.

We believe, as you do, that the United States must be an example of moral leadership in the world community. However, the events at Abu Ghraib have gravely compromised America's moral authority. We ask that you commit yourself as Attorney General to repairing that damage by articulating and enforcing legal policies that reject the use of torture, embrace and advance standards of international law, and honor the dignity of all of God's creation.

With prayers for wisdom and grace,

Rev. Dr. George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary 

       Coordinator: Church Folks for a Better America

Dr. C. René Padilla, General Secretary for Latin America, IFES

Sr. Dianna Ortiz, director, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center

Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB

Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, President, Chicago Theological Seminary

Mr. Jim Wallis, Editor, Sojourners

Dr. Ron Sider,   President,   Evangelicals for Social Action

Dr. Anthony Campolo, Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education

Dr. Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, St. Louis University

Dr. Juanita Jartu Jolly, Agape Christian Tabernacle

Rev. Victor Aloyo, Jr., Director of Vocations, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice

Pastor Amaury Tañón-Santos, American Baptist Churches

The Rev. John E. Denaro, Episcopal Migration Ministries

Rabbi Michael Lerner, The TIKKUN Community

Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, The Divinity School of Duke University

Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Aux. Bishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit

Bishop James H. Burch, Catholic Diocese of One Spirit

Rev. Dr. Joseph C. Hough, Jr., President, Union Theological Seminary

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, The Shefa Fund

Rev. Dr. James H. Cone, Union Theological Seminary

Dr. Teresa Whitehurst, Jesus on the Family Institute

Dr. Glen Stassen, Fuller Theological Seminary

Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbis for Human Rights North America

Rev. Romal Tune, African American Ministers Council

Rev. Dr. Therese M. Becker, Department of Spiritual Care, University of Chicago Hospitals

Rabbi Shirley Idelson, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

Rev. Theophlus Caviness, Greater Abyssinia, Cleveland, OH

Rev. Violete Dease, Abyssinian Baptist, Harlem, NY

Dr. Paul H. Sherry, National Council of Churches of Christ

Iftekhar Hussain, Secretary General, American Muslim Society of the Tristate Area

Rev. Victoria J. Furio

The Rev. Julio Torres

Rev. Timothy McDonald, African Amer. Ministers Council & First Iconium Baptist

Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General World Sikh Council - America Region

Dr. William Werpehowski, Center for Peace and Justice Education, Villanova University

Mr. Dave Robinson, Executive Director, Pax Christi USA

Mahdi Bray, Executive Director Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation

Sheila Musaji, Editor, The American Muslim Magazine

Mohammed Kaiseruddin, President, Muslim Community Center, Chicago

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Dr. A.S. Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad, Africana Islamic Institute

Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Sound Vision Foundation

Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs

Rev. Meg Riley, Unitarian Universalist Association

The Rev. Frank Morales, St. Marks Church

Rabbi Gerry Serotta, Temple Shalom

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assoc. (Past President)

Dr. E. Glenn Hinson, Professor Emeritus, Baptist Theological Seminary

The Rev. Robert Moore, Coalition for Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund

Rev. Dr. Donald W. Shriver, President Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary, NYC

Sr. Betty Obal, SL, UN NGO Representative, Loretto Community

Rev. Dr.  Frederick R. Trost, Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ

Bishop Charles Wesley Jordan

Mr. Jason Byassee, Assistant Editor, Christian Century

David W. Reid, Publisher, Vital Theology

Richard V. Pierard, Stephen Phillips Professor of History, Gordon College

Dr. Barbara DeConcini, Executive Director, American Academy of Religion

Rev. Steven C. Baines, People For the American Way Foundation

Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General World Sikh Council - America Region

Bishop Marshall L. Meadors, Jr. Bishop in Residence Candler School of Theology Emory

The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

The Very Rev. Dr. Ann J. Broomell, Dean Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Rev. Dr. Albert M. Pennybacker, Chair/CEO, Clergy and Laity Network

Rev. Vicky A. Fleming

The Reverend K. Dennis Winslow, St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Rev. Dr. James E. Fitzgerald, Minister for Mission and Social Justice, The Riverside Church

Dr. Sondra Wheeler, Martha Ashby Carr Professor of Christian Ethics, Wesley Theological Seminary

Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson

Dr. George F. Regas, The Regas Institute

Dr. Charles Hunter, Presbyterian Minister, Parish Associate at the Oak Cliff Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas

Rev. Dr. Charles Raynal, Director of Advanced Studies, Columbia Theological Seminary

Mark A. Chancey, Religious Studies, Southern Methodist University

The Rev. Gary R. Weaver

Julie M. Hill

Scott R. Gansl, president, World Congress of GLBT Jewish Organisations: Keshet Ga'ava

Dr. S.M. Ghazanfar, Professor of Economics University of Idaho

Dana Regan, First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR

Rev. Dr. William G. Brockman

Bob Morris

Helga Scow Stern

Chuck Currie, United Church of Christ Seminarian, Central Pacific Conference UCC

Rev. Jay R. Newlin, OSL, Pastor Jenkintown United Methodist Church

Rev. Melody C. Porter, First United Methodist Church of Germantown

Ruth Messinger

Anne Ewing

The Rev. Meg A. Riley, Unitarian Universalist Association

Rabbi Nancy Flam, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

Rabbi Alana Suskin, Congregation Adas Israel

Rabbi Dr. Andrew Vogel Ettin, Wake Forest University and Temple Israel

Rev. David Wesley Brown

Dr. S. Huw Anwyl, Senior Minister & CEO Shepherd of the Hills Church

Rev. Dexter Lanctot

Rabbi Suzanne Griffel

Rabbi Laura Geller, Los Angeles

Rabbi Douglas E. Krantz

Rabbi Neil Kominsky, Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley

The Rev. James F. McIntire, MDiv, JD, The United Methodist Church of Bala Cynwyd

Eric Mount, Centre College (Rodes Professor Religion Emeritus)

Rev. Robert G. Coombe Pastor:   Union United Methodist Church

Elizabeth Memel, Ojai, CA

Haim Dov Beliak

Rev. Susan Cole

Rev. Michael Kinnamon The Allen and Dottie Miller Professor of Mission and Peace, Eden Theological Seminary

Rev. Charlene F. Gaspar, Gladwyne United Methodist Church

Rev. Al Krass, Philadelphia Area Interfaith Peace Network

Rev. Kaye Edwards Director of Family and Children's Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

The Rev. Patricia Pearce Tabernacle United Church, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Linda M. Maloney, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Enosburg Falls, VT

Dr. Alicia Ostriker, Professor of English, Rutgers University

Rev. Dr. F. Mark Mealing, Kaslo, B.C., Canada

Wil Gafney, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Scripture and Homiletics, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

Phyllis T. Albritton, Blacksburg VA

Sidney Callahan, Ph.D

Gaile M. Pohlhaus, Ph.D., Villanova University

Dr. Malcolm Nazareth and Ms. Mariani Nazareth, St. Cloud, MN

Rabbi Avi Winokur, Society Hill Synagogue

Dr. Nan Gefen, President, Chochmat HaLev

Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, Berkeley, CA

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives

Dorothea Dorenz

Rev. Peter Laarman, Progressive Christians Uniting

Dr. Mary E. Hunt, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, Director, Faith Voices Institute and Lift Every Voice!

Charles Rooney, Catholics for the Common Good

Rev. Dr. Elsie McKee, Ph.D., Archibald Alexander Professor of Reformation Studies and the History of Worship, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter, Pastor, Old First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, NY

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Westmont College

Reb ZalmanSchachter-Shalomi Rabbinic Chair, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal;

Rabbi Hillel Cohn

Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Claremont, California

Rabbi Howard A. Cohen, Congregation Beth El

Rabbi Dennis Beck-Berman Past President, OHALAH:Association of Rabbis for

Jewish Renewal

Dr. M. Douglas Meeks, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University

The Rev. Dr. Christian T. Iosso, Scarborough Presbyterian Church

Rev. Kenneth Samual, Victory Church, Atlanta, GA

Rev. A.W. Howard, Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz Temple Isaiah Lafayette, Ca

Rabbi Laurence L. Edwards Congregation Or Chadash

Rabbi Phyllis Berman, Riverside Language Center

Rabbi David Greenstein, The Academy for Jewish Religion, NY

Rev. Robert Shine, Baracha Baptist, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Clarence Pemberton, New Hope Baptist, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. James Sampson, First Mount Zion, Jacksonville, FL

Rev. Michael Harrison, Union Baptist, Youngstown, OH

Rev. Michael Pfleger, St. Sabina, Chicago, IL

Rev. Olen Arrington, Second Baptist, Kenosha, WI

J. Ross Wagner, Princeton Theological Seminary

Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. John McEntyre, PCUSA

The Rev. C. Clifton Black, Dept. of Biblical Studies, Princeton Theological Seminary

Barbara Levatich

Dr. Geffrey B. Kelly, La Salle University

Dr. Robert DeFina, Villanova University

Prof. Ellen Charry Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Bryan Langlands, St. Luke UMC, Sanford, NC

Rev. Muriel Burrows, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church

Anne Gibbons, Associate Chaplain and Director of SERVE, Lynchburg College

The Rev. Robert L. Livingston. United Church of Christ

Rev. Patricia Daley

William Stacy Johnson, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Douglas King

Dr. Alexander J. McKelway

Rev. James M. Collie, Presbytery of Santa Fe

Rev. Theresa F. Latini

The Rev. Fleming Rutledge

Rev. Todd Cioffi, Princeton Seminary

Dr. Jacqueline Lapsley, Princeton Seminary

Dr. Brian K. Blount, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. Laura Delaplain (UMC)

Dr. Catherine Keller, Theological School of Drew University

The Rev. Dr. Gary Wehrwein

Ftr. Lawrence H. Kaiser

Rev. Gloria H. Albrecht, Ph.D. (Presbyterian Church, USA)

Rev. Sally Osmer, Director at The Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton

Dr. Cherith Fee Nordling, Director of Christian Formation, Calvin College

Rev. Richard Broderick

Rev. Ann Marie Coleman, Co-Senior Minister of University Church

Rev. Don Coleman, Co-Senior Minister of University Church

The Rev. Lisa Keppeler

The Rev. Geo. Anthony Hoeltzel

The Rev. Dr. Frank J. Alagna

The Rev. Dr. Peregrine L. Murphy

The Rev. Elizabeth G. Maxwell, Church of the Holy Apostles

The Rev. Ralph E Fogg

The Rev. Carol R. Fox

Rabbi Chaim Leib Schneider, Santa Cruz, CA

Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, Temple Kol Tikvah, Woodland Hills, CA

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Stanford University

Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, Beth Shir Sholom, Santa Monica, CA

The Rev. Chloe Breyer, St. Mary's Manhattanville

Rev. Dr. Lois Malcolm, Luther Seminary

The Reverend Canon Brady J. Vardemann, Episcopal Diocese of Montana

Dr. Mark S. Burrows, Andover Newton Theological School

Rev. Dr. Betty Jane Bailey

Rev. Dr. J. Martin Bailey

Dr. Kathryn L. Johnson, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Rev. Joan LaLiberté, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

The Rev. Barbara J. Haddon, Pastor First Presbyterian Church

Rev. Donald F. Hanchon

Rev. Paul Feuerstein

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, Starr King School for the Ministry

Dr. John Cobb, Claremont School of Theology (Emeritus)

Rev. Matthew Freeman, Assistant Minister, Asbury United Methodist Church

Rev. Jophn Soderberg

Rev. Dave Weissbard, Senior Minister, The Unitarian Universalist Church

Dr. Walter Lowe, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

Rev. Sarah Craig Freeman, Assistant Minister at Asbury United Methodist Church

Bonnie Jones Shinneman

The Rev. Prof. Harold R. Bronk, Jr., Grace Episcopal Church

The Rev. Chuck Kramer

Rev. Dawson Tunnell

Frank Kromkowski

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater New York Labor-Religion

Coalition

Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Graduate Theological Urban Studies, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education

Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Migliore, Princeton Theological Seminary

Suzie Armstrong, Vice President, The Interfaith Alliance

Rev. Dr. Amy Laura Hall, Professor, Duke University Divinity School

Dr. Creston Davis, Fellow of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia

Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, Dept. of Theology/Religious Studies, University of Scranton

Dr. Brigid Curtin Frein, Department of Theology, University of Scranton

Dr. Joel James Shuman, Department of Theology, King's College

Dr. R. David Kaylor, Davidson College (emeritus)

Dr. Deanna A. Thompson, Ph.D., Chair & Associate Professor of Religion, Hamline University

Re. Dr. Richard Fenn, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Joicy Becker-Richards, Director of Educational Media, Princeton Theological Seminary

affiliations listed for identification only