The International Day Against Torture

I thought about you all this past Monday night. Sandy and I went to Cortland, NY, to attend Cortland's Day Against Torture Prayer Vigil. Their state senator and one of the state representatives from that district managed to get a resolution through our state legislature in solidarity with the UN's declaration of The International Day Against Torture, and their city council followed through with its own declaration.
Because of the rain, the ceremony was moved from the courthouse steps to the Unitarian-Universalist Church, an 1837 cobblestone with the most gorgeous, simple bead-board ceiling and altar. (Okay, so I am really rambling, but this was a truly blessed experience for me--so please try to cope!!) Robert Mann and Joan had arranged for us to meet some of the organizers of the service for dinner before the ceremony. They told us about their organization and programs they had sponsored . And they told us some interesting stories about the church. Someone mentioned that they had been very impressed when they first moved to Cortland and were told of Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson and others addressing the congregation there, but then they learned that those venerated people had spoken in just about every Unitarian Church in Central and Upstate New York. The minister of a Presbyterian church in Cortland who moderated the ceremony, found it very ironic that on one of the occasions when Thereau addressed the Unitarian church, 3 members of what is now her church, slipped off to hear him and were excommunicated, so that to this day members of her church usually informed her when they were attending anything at the Unitarian Church, "to make sure they would not be excommunicated".
The service was opened informally by a young woman playing her guitar and singing very simple, wonderful peace songs in an idealistic, pure and sweet manner. Her voice was clear, and her smile infectious. It set the tone for the night.
Their mayor read the city proclamation (which included regret for the fact that the President had attached a "signing order" to his signature of Congress's recent act reaffirming our nation's policy against torture).

Sandy wrote about the evening to the newspaper in Cortland. I cannot improve on her story so here it is:

On June 26, at the invitation of a friend, I and another friend drove through driving rain from Oneida County to attend the Day Against Torture program at the Unitarian-Universalist Church. (State legislators, Barbara Lifton and James Seward, had lobbied Governor Pataki to make the statewide proclamation). The Cortland program was arranged through the efforts of the Social Justice Cluster of Cortland Area Faith Communities---a very large name for a very brave group. I learned that they have been working on human right issues for over a decade. Cortland is very fortunate to have such a group. And Cortland is also fortunate to have a mayor, Thomas Gallagher, willing to have his city join the state in recognizing the inhumanity that seems to be even more prevalent now that the Cold War is over than it
was in the last century of so many hot wars.
Besides the mayor, the program had a survivor of the Holocaust and speakers from four major faiths. It was inspiring to see all of them, but I was particularly moved by the comments of Sheila Cohen who spoke of the Jewish tradition. She said that of course we must pray, but in her tradition there is a belief that human beings have been given by their Creator the tools to deal with problems such as
torture; and therefore our Creator expects us to act.
So much is said of globalization in terms of economic benefits; it is high time indeed we recognize the humanity that binds us together. And heeding Sheila Cohen's words, when we step into the voting booths in November, we should act in defense
of that humanity.