Priests imprisoned for trying
to protest torture

Speaking of Religion
The Rev. Dr. Tim Griffin

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes on your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these take the shield of faith, with which to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 6:13-17.

Paul instructs the Ephesians to clothe themselves in the armor of God so that they will be able to withstand the onslaught of evil and to stand firm. Paul is aware that only God can provide us with the strength necessary for this challenge.
However, we can cooperate with God’s grace by steadfastly insisting upon the gospel values of truth, righteousness, peace and, most importantly, faith. With these resources and the assurance of God’s assistance, we are empowered to confront evil even when it appears too powerful and the battle seems lost.
Father Louis Vitale, a 75-year-old Franciscan priest, and Father Steve Kelly, a 58-year-old Jesuit priest, have followed Paul’s counsel. They have put on the whole armor of God, confronted evil directly and are standing firm against it.
On Oct. 17, Vitale and Kelly were each sentenced to five months in federal prison for protesting against torture and for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture.
They were arrested in November 2006 while kneeling in prayer in the driveway of Fort Huachuca, Ariz. They had stopped to pray on their way to deliver a letter to Major General Barbara Fast, the commander of Fort Huachuca and former head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. You will recall Abu Ghraib as the prison where inmates were tortured, chained, made to pose naked in a pyramid, threatened with dogs, etc.
Of course, Fort Huachuca is a long way from Abu Ghraib, so why were these priests there? Because Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the United States and the U.S. training facility for military and civilian interrogators. According to an investigation, Fort Huachuca is also the location from which the torture manuals provided to graduates of the U.S. School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., originated.
Vitale and Kelly were inspired to protest at Fort Huachuca by the growing evidence of torture by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, and by the suicide of Alyssa Peterson, who served as an interrogator in Iraq, and whose suicide is thought to have resulted from her horror at the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. The priests unsuccessfully attempted to introduce evidence from the FBI, the U.S. Army, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Social Responsibility in their defense.
As Christians, we should thank God that there are those among us who put on the whole armor of God, who stand firm in their faith and in their commitment to truth, peace and righteousness. As Americans we should be deeply concerned that our government is engaged in torture and other such assaults on the dignity of other human beings.
During the past week the Senate held confirmation hearings for the attorney general nominee. During one exchange, the nominee was asked if water-boarding — a technique known to be torture the world over— is unconstitutional. His response? "If water-boarding is torture, it is unconstitutional." He refused, however, to acknowledge the truth, viz., that water-boarding is torture.
Semantic games of the sort engaged in by the White House and now by the nominee for attorney general are contrary to truth, righteousness and peace, and they are contrary to our faith as people of God. They are contrary not only to the Gospel values of Christianity but to the values of all faithful people and our fundamental values as a nation.
May we all put on the armor of God and speak out of our faith in favor of truth, peace and righteousness. ••
Father Tim Griffin is priest-in-charge at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at 1946 Welsh Road in Bustleton.