Human Rights and Faith Community of Christ, We proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace.

Statement on Torture

Released by the Human Rights Committee in consultation with the
World Church Leadership Council

The Community of Christ affirms that:

All of life is important to God and therefore sacred.
God is concerned about every aspect of life—society, culture, economics, politics, law, education, the environment, etc.—and calls us to participate in it as Jesus himself did.
People have great worth to God.
God calls us to be in the forefront of organizations and movements that recognize the worth of persons.
We stand in the shadow of the cross and the suffering of Jesus with Christians of all denominations, and strive for a just and peaceful world in which people may achieve their full potential as human beings and children of God.
In view of our own history of persecution, we should become aware of and oppose human rights abuses in all places and circumstances.

Human rights abuses such as torture and human degradation are ungodly, undermine life before God, destroy the worth of persons, and devastate a just and peaceful world. Such abuses perpetuate violence and suffering, which Jesus not only struggled against but also endured on the cross.

The Community of Christ is founded on the belief in the worth of all persons (Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c). Therefore, we are opposed to torture and all acts that constitute degrading treatment of any person. We support standards established by all international conventions, treaties and laws upholding the worth of persons, including the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, we reject the premise that certain conditions of national or regional emergency provide moral or legal justification to override the rights of every person to be treated with respect and dignity.

We join all faith communities that affirm these standards, and we urge church members and jurisdictions of the Community of Christ to take appropriate actions that uphold this position.

Questions for discussion

In the Forefront: A Faith in Action Human Rights Network

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