When is Christianity Going Back to Being the Religion of "UN-entombment"?

What would Christians think if someone proposed carving out a slice of their Sunday services to worship the God of Entombment?

Wouldn't they think that was absurd?

After all, if Christianity is anything, isn't it the religion of "UN-entombment"?

This became clear to me anew during a thrilling sermon by Will Storm at St. Luke's Logan Square at the 2013 Easter vigil, in which he talked about the many forces wanting to blot out life, like a giant thumb blotting out the sun, saying "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." The story of Christ is the antidote to this -- "the sign placed over this world [to be] a limit and an end to its suffering.  A sign that hope is not to be abandoned."

"This is the sign that stands against and triumphs over the gates of hell, which the Holy Spirit cries into our hearts, each by name. This is the sign that occurred in the saving ark, in the deliverance of the Israelites through the Red Sea, in the saving presence within the fiery furnace. This is the sign to which Mary Magdalene was the first witness along with the apostles, the sign to which the church has given testimony to throughout the centuries by its proclamation and its action, by the blood of its martyrs and the works of its saints, by the confessions its has spoken and the hymns it has sung, through its art and writings, through its scriptures and acts of charity, by the immersion of ever new generations in the waters of baptism and the offering of our Lord’s presence in the wine and bread. Throughout our history the Holy Spirit has not ceased to cry until its voice has grown hoarse with this message: Christ is risen!"

So: for Christians anywhere to worship a "God of Entombment" is unthinkable.

Or is it?

Now I'm not going to try to suggest that there is some aspect of Sunday morning worship at my church, or any church, that directly glorifies this God of Entombment. But I do have to ask: haven't we gotten to the point where the values around which we've built our lives -- i.e. "worship" as defined by "what we commit ourselves to" -- have become inextricably mixed with this system of mass incarceration?

This past Sunday, we did a screening and discussion at St. Luke's Logan Square of the film, The House I Live In, dealing with the mass incarceration of 2.5 million people in the United States. It is a powerful indictment of American society. It suggests that we've gone far, far beyond any defensible notion of law and justice. We're now just warehousing people for profit, or worse. And we're all implicated.

After all, do we go day after day without making a single contribution to ending the systemic racism that is fueled in our schools and feeds the system of mass incarceration (aka the "school-to-prison pipeline")? Or maybe it doesn't matter because our kids are getting high quality educations, thank you very much?

Are we content to live in Cook County, home of one of the great hellholes and feeder tombs to the system of mass incarceration, Cook County Jail? Or maybe it doesn't matter because I'll certainly never see the inside of CCJ?

Do we remain blind to the practice of torture via sensory deprivation (aka solitary confinement, "special housing unit (SHU)", "administrative detention," etc etc etc) in Illinois prisons and prisons across the country? Or maybe it doesn't matter because we've got our nice comfortable homes to live in?

Do we find an excuse to sidestep the invitations of organizations like Community Renewal Society (FORCE Project), ALSO, Radical Public Health, Black and Pink: Chicago, Decarcerate Illinois, and many, many others to make a difference? Or maybe it doesn't matter because the job market seems to be working to our advantage just the way it is?

I wonder if this isn't exactly the kind of inconsistency -- inconstancy, faithlessness -- that prophets like Amos and Hosea railed against. Wouldn't they say, "You pretend to 'worship' at Christ's altar while tolerating the entombment of 2.5 million people? I will put an end to your mirth, your festivals, your new moons, your sabbaths, and all your appointed festivals!" (adapted from Hosea 2:11) And "I hate it, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Your offerings are meaningless. Your songs are just noise. The only 'God' you worship is a God of despair and darkness." (adapted from Amos 5:21).

So I ask: can our profession of Christian faith be separated from a determination to end the entombment of men and women in America's prisons?


Related posts

I believe Easter is God's gift to humanity of victory over death, hopelessness and frailty, and I believe that God is alive and in our midst. The witness of the Guantanamo lawyers has confirmed me in those beliefs.

(See Easter Victory: The Guantanamo Lawyers )

Cook County Jail is the perfect example of the nationwide injustice that Michelle Alexander described in her groundbreaking book, The New Jim Crow: mass incarceration, focused principally one people of color, in which "crimes" (often related to drug possession or other low-level offenses) become the mechanism for entrapping people in a cycle of incarceration that is brutalizing and often begins a downward spiral of lifetime discrimination.

(See Free Them All )



I believe when Jesus broke the bread and poured the wine and said "Remember me this way," he was much more interested in encouraging us to keep having conversations -- conversations that really matter -- with others . . . and finding ways to be in relationship with our neighbors  . . . all the while reminding us "never underestimate the power of food"  . . .

(See Get Outside Your Comfort Zone and Have A Conversation Today (Welcome to the Ministry))



The Last Supper is a staggering collection of 600 plates that the artist Julie Green has painted with images and notations about the last meals of people put to death in states across the US.

(See Communion of a Different Sort: "The Last Supper" at the Block Museum )

The Revelations of "Beneath the Blindfold"

"Beneath the Blindfold" is a film about torture survivors. It is an important film, and I encourage everyone to look for an opportunity to see the film as soon as possible, and to share it with others in their community. This is especially important in light of the recent unanimous vote in Chicago City Council to make Chicago a torture-free city and the opportunity it provides to advance an anti-torture platform to many, many other places.

Much will be written about "Beneath the Blindfold." Below is a quick sketch of several elements of the film that were particularly revelatory to me.


SENSORY DEPRIVATION
A critical part of "Beneath the Blindfold" is the information it provides about sensory deprivation and how it constitutes torture.

I have only recently confronted the truth that solitary confinement -- so widely practiced in the United States -- constitutes a form of torture.

In the hearings on the resolution to make Chicago a torture free city, there was ample first-hand testimony about the fact that "solitary confinement" is a misnomer -- that what is really being practiced is sensory deprivation, and that the result is to destroy minds and bodies.

In fact, for those who have been paying attention, the truth about solitary confinement/sensory deprivation has already begun to intrude into mainstream culture. See, for instance Atul Gawande, Hellholes, in The New Yorker - "The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?"

"Beneath the Blindfold" provides additional information about the effects of sensory deprivation. In particular, I was struck by the information provided in the film about how the effects of sensory deprivation have been well-known since the '50s -- particularly as a result of the "Hebb experiments". Under the circumstances, the terrible impact of sensory deprivaiton on prisoners can only be intentional. As one speaker summarized those experiments, "It became clear that within 48 hours of sensory deprivation, the mind starts to break down."

TRAUMA
One common thread among the torture survivors profiled in "Beneath the Blindfold" is the continuing trauma of those who have experienced torture. It is perhaps the signal achievement of the film that it portrays four different survivors, each of whose experience of torture was distinct from that of any of the others, and each of whom has an otherwise unique personality, and yet each makes clear that they share a long-lasting trauma. One leaves the film with a deeply-felt sense of the lasting trauma caused by torture of any kind.

In addition to the testimony of the survivors themselves, the witness provided by medical and psychological professionals -- notably Dr. Frank Summers and Mary Fabri of the Kovler Center -- begins to lay the foundation for the viewer of an understanding of the trauma that follows torture.

FORGETTING/NOT FORGETTING
For me, a telling statement was that survivors simultaneously yearn to forget torture experiences, and yet, at the same time, are desperate that their experiences not be forgotten. I think part of what that refers to is a purely internal battle -- to hold on to experience or discard it? But another part of that, I think, refers to social memory, and perhaps it is easier for us to know how to attend to that.

If "desperate that those experiences not be forgotten" means that it is important that society know what happened, and take responsibility for it, and assure that it never happens again, then I think that is something all of us can and should agree to participate in. It is certainly a goal that is ably supported by "Beneath the Blindfold."

Related posts

The Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo holds weekly vigils at Dearborn and Jackson in Chicago every Friday at 4:30 p.m. to support the Guantanamo Hunger Strikers and to demand that Guantanamo be shut down. (Learn more about weekly vigils by the Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo.)


 

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago stand firm against all forms of torture and inhuman treatment, and hereby proclaim Chicago to be a torture free zone; and . . . (See Chicago: A Torture-Free City?)
 


 

What would Christians think if someone proposed carving out a slice of their Sunday services to worship the God of Entombment? Wouldn't they think that was absurd? After all, if Christianity is anything, isn't it the religion of "UN-entombment"?

(See When is Christianity Going Back to Being the Religion of "UN-entombment"?)

Why Chicago Must Become a Torture-Free Zone

Yesterday was a day of moving testimony before the Committee on Human Relations of the City Council of the City of Chicago on a resolution to make Chicago a torture-free city.

More than any other part of the day, I was moved by the assurance with which Alderman Joe Moore, the resolution's sponsor, stated, "I expect this resolution will pass UNANIMOUSLY." [PS - Chicago City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY on January 18, 2012, to make Chicago a torture-free city.]

What might we be able to accomplish if we could hold the unanimous passage of this resolution up as an example to people in other cities, to encourage them to take similar action? Can we start a movement for a torture-free WORLD?

Below are additional notable excerpts from testimony at the hearing.

Attorney Flint Taylor set the stage at the pre-hearing press conference by holding up the edition of the Sun-Times that featured Rahm Emanuel's statement "TIME WE END IT!" One of the most significant parts of Taylor's testimony was his insistence that the City stop protecting torturers on the police force, and produce former Mayor Richard M. Daley for deposition.

Similarly, Alderman Joe Moore had opened the hearing with a stark statement: "WE are COMPLICIT if we stand by while torture happens."

DePaul law professor and UN war crimes investigator Cherif Bassiouni was explicit: torture is a crime and we need to prosecute it. He stressed "how important it is for citizens to raise their voices and be heard" about torture. And he expressed dismay that, while torture used to be something Americans blamed on other countries, it's now become institutionalized US practice. Echoing a theme touched on by many witnesses, Bassiouni said that we can only hold on to our moral authority if we see and hear what is going on, and speak out to end torture. Answering a question from the chair about current U.S. practice, he said that the Obama administration has taken steps to eliminate the open commission of torture, to assure that U.S. "fingerprints" are not on acts of torture.

Activist Mario Vanegas, a torture survivor from Chile, explained the history of US export of torture via the School of the Americas (SOA), and gave moving testimony about his own experience. Urging Chicago City Council to pass the resolution, he said, "The entire world is watching!"

CHICAGO TORTURE: EXCRUCIATING DESCRIPTIONS
During the hearing, Taylor showed video of Chicago police torture survivors Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes describing their experience. Cannon spent 24 years in prison for a crime he confessed to after torture by Chicago police. In the video, Cannon recounted, "They told me I was in for the hardest day of my life," and then he gave an excruciating description of a mock execution, such as when a shotgun was placed in his mouth, and he was tortured using an electric cattle prod applied to his testicles.

Taylor stressed that the John Burge police torture case has cost Chicago taxpayers $53 million.

Anti-death penalty activist (and Chicago police torture survivor) Mark Clements asked, "How can #Chicago pass a resolution to renounce torture without addressing the issue of the twenty-three Burge torture victims still unfairly in prison?"

SOLITARY = TORTURE
Activists who oppose Tamms supermax prison emphasize the need to end the use of solitary confinement and sensory deprivation, because of the way it destroys minds and bodies.

Activist Gregory Koger emphasized that thousands of people are subjected to torture in the form of extended solitary in the state of Illinois alone; the U.S. leads the world in the use of this practice. He exhorted Chicago to follow the courageous example of Pelican Bay hunger strikers to oppose imposition of torture through the use of extended solitary confinement.

Dr. Frank Somers of the Kovler Center stressed: "It's not 'solitary,' it's sensory deprivation, and the outcome is breakdown of the mind. This was a point that other witnesses testified to from their personal experience being subjected to solitary confinement.

MORAL AUTHORITY? A "HUMANE" CITY?
Other testimony from a representative of the Kovler Center emphasized, "Torture is NOT committed to 'obtain information'! It is done to break bodies & minds - to terrorize!!"

Prof. Adam Green of the University of Chicago, a key proponent of the Chicago Police Torture Memorial Project underlined the importance of taking a stand: "Burge was held up as a leader (!) We must loudly RENOUNCE this." He went on to say, "Can Chicago clain to be a humane city? NOT UNTIL we repair the legacy of using terror and isolation towards African-American people by means of police torture."

Amnesty International Midwest Regional Director Debra Erenberg stressed how important it is to make the connection between ending torture in Chicago & issue of ending indefinite detention and closing Guantanamo, the subject of worldwide protests just one day prior to the hearings. She also emphasized that extended solitary confinement IS torture. Erenberg proposed that for the upcoming Chicago conference of Nobel Peace Prize winners, the city should be torture-free.

Explaining the need to put an end to torture, Congressman Danny Davis put it quite simply: "The Constitution demands it." Davis stated that an anti-torture bill he has sponsored together with other Illinois congressmen will go before Congress shortly. In his testimony, Davis emphasized that "there should be no statute of limitations to prosecuting torture."

* * * * * * *

We owe a debt of thanks to all of these witnesses for, in Koger's words, "giving voice to the voiceless."


Related posts

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago stand firm against all forms of torture and inhuman treatment, and hereby proclaim Chicago to be a torture free zone; and . . .

(See Chicago: A Torture-Free City?)







A campaign exists to bring about a democratically-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) in Chicago. The campaign would involve the people in electing the watchers of the police, and put the ultimate control of (and responsibility for) the police in the hands of the citizens of Chicago.

(See Does a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) need to be part of a "new plan of Chicago"? )

Cook County Jail is the perfect example of the nationwide injustice that Michelle Alexander described in her groundbreaking book, The New Jim Crow: mass incarceration, focused principally one people of color, in which "crimes" (often related to drug possession or other low-level offenses) become the mechanism for entrapping people in a cycle of incarceration that is brutalizing and often begins a downward spiral of lifetime discrimination.

(See Free Them All )

Chicago: A Torture-Free City?

NOTE: Chicago City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY on January 18, 2012, to make Chicago a torture-free city.]

What might we be able to accomplish if we could hold the unanimous passage of this resolution up as an example to people in other cities, to encourage them to take similar action? Can we start a movement for a torture-free WORLD?

* * * * *

On January 18, 2012, Chicago City Council will vote on a resolution to make Chicago a torture-free city. This vote will be a CRITICAL MILESTONE in the movement in Chicago and throughout the Midwest to resist the abuses of our government (including the national mobilization for the closure of Guantanamo, Bagram, and other sites, and the end of illegitimate detention practices, January 11, 2012). YOUR SUPPORT of UNANIMOUS PASSAGE at the January 18 Chicago City Council meeting can make the difference in getting the resolution passed!

Action Steps
The Resolution
Contact Your Alderman on Twitter!
Key Background

ACTION STEPS
We are on our way to making Chicago the first city in the United States to publicly oppose torture. This is great and it could not have happened without your work and support! Now we need you to stick with it to get the resolution passed!


(1) Review the notes on the January 12 hearing on the resolution. Note that the resolution's sponsor, Alderman Joe Moore, has stated that he expects the UNANIMOUS passage of this resolution.

(2) Lobby your alderman. Call or write your alderman to tell him/her how important this resolution is to you. (Want to make some noise? Most aldermen are now on Twitter, so you can tell them in public!)

(3) Sign the petition. Thousands of people have already signed this ICAT petition to urge passage of this resolution (including hard copy and online versions). Please join them!

(4) Tell your friends! Email, Facebook, Twitter, you know the drill! (Just think about the impact if each person who supported this resolution told just ten friends!)

(5) Attend the January 18 vote! City Council meets at 10 a.m., January 18, 2012, to vote on the resolution. Come early to be assured a seat in Council chambers.



RESOLUTION PROCLAIMING CHICAGO TO BE A TORTURE FREE ZONE
WHEREAS, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention) defines torture as: “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”; and

WHEREAS, the United States signed the Convention in 1988 and the United States Congress ratified the Convention in 1994, thereby making it a law; and

WHEREAS, torture violates our nation’s and our city’s most cherished ideals and violates the rights of all individuals, in contravention of the Convention and provisions of the United States Constitution, including the Fifth Amendment ban on self-incrimination, the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law; and

WHEREAS, incidents of torture and degrading practices perpetrated by agents of or on behalf of the United States government have been documented in Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere abroad since the signing of the Convention; and

WHEREAS, many Chicagoans are being held in prolonged solitary confinement in Illinois prisons in conditions which often lead to physical and psychological breakdown and are a form of torture; and

WHEREAS, former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and Chicago police officers under his command tortured scores of African-American men, which resulted in false confessions leading to wrongful convictions and imprisonment; and

WHEREAS, the City of Chicago and its taxpayers have paid and continue to pay millions of dollars to defend lawsuits arising from those torturous acts; and

WHEREAS, torture survivors require comprehensive care and assistance, such as that provided by the Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center; and

WHEREAS, torture degrades everyone involved—perpetrators, survivors of torture, their families and communities, and officials and the public which turn a blind eye to such practices; and

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Chicago in 2002 declared June 26th a day of support for torture survivors in accordance with the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago stand firm against all forms of torture and inhuman treatment, and hereby proclaim Chicago to be a torture free zone; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago voice their strong and unwavering support for all survivors of torture, and will hold all perpetrators accountable for their actions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago support and will take all necessary steps to enact the following: 1. The City of Chicago declares that it will not tolerate, support or allow torture to be practiced by its employees or residents. 2. The City of Chicago affirms that all prisoners under city, state or federal governmental control are entitled to have their human rights respected, including their right to be free from torture. 3. The City of Chicago supports the observance of December 10th, International Human Rights Day, as a day to reaffirm that the human rights of all people must be respected and to publicly denounce the practice of torture, wherever it occurs.



CONTACT YOUR ALDERMAN ON TWITTER!
1st - Joe Moreno @Alderman_Moreno
2nd - Robert Fioretti @FiorettiChicago
3rd - Pat Dowell (not on Twitter)
4th - William Burns @Ald4_WillBurns
5th - Leslie Hairston (not on Twitter)
6th - Roderick Sawyer @RoderickTSawyer
7th - Sandi Jackson @SandiJackson1
8th - Michelle Harris (not on Twitter)
9th - Anthony Beale (not on Twitter)
10th - John Pope @AldermanPope
11th - James Balcer (not on Twitter)
12th - George A. Cardenas @ald12
13th - Marty Quinn (not on Twitter)
14th - Ed Burke (not on Twitter)
15th - Toni Foulkes (not on Twitter)
16th - JoAnn Thompson (not on Twitter)
17th - Latasha Thomas (not on Twitter)
18th - Lona Lane (not on Twitter)
19th - Matthew O’Shea @mattoshea19
20th - Willie Cochran @ALDERMANWBC
21st - Howard Brookins Jr.(not on Twitter)
22nd - Ricardo Munoz @AldermanMunoz22
23rd - Michael Zalewski (not on Twitter)
24th - Michael Chandler (not on Twitter)
25th - DanielSolis @AldermanSolis
26th - Roberto Maldonado (not on Twitter)
27th - Walter Burnett, Jr. @AldermanBurnett
28th - Jason Ervin @AldermanErvin
29th - DeborahGraham (not on Twitter)
30th - Ariel E. Reboyras @Ald_Reboyras
31st - Ray Suarez (not on Twitter)
32nd - Scott Waguespack (not on Twitter)
33rd - Richard F. Mell (not on Twitter)
34th - Carrie Austin (not on Twitter)
35th - Rey Colon (not on Twitter)
36th - Nicholas Sposato @AldermanSposato
37th - Emma Mitts @EmmaMittsAld37
38th - Timothy M. Cullerton (not on Twitter)
39th - Margaret Laurino (not on Twitter)
40th - Patrick J. O'Connor @40thWard
41st - Mary O’Connor @OCONNORfor41
42nd - Brendan Reilly (not on Twitter)
43rd - Michele Smith @MicheleSmith43
44th - Thomas M. Tunney @AldTomTunney
45th - John Arena @johnarena445
46th - James Cappleman @jamescappleman
47th - Ameya Pawar @alderman_pawar
48th - Harry Osterman (not on Twitter)
49th - Joseph A. Moore @joemoore49
50th - Debra Silverstein @Debra4Alderman


KEY BACKGROUND

Chicago Police Torture
Chicago Police Torture Archive
Chicago Police Torture Justice Memorials

Solitary Confinement as Torture
Atul Gawande, Hellholes, The New Yorker - "The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?"

Chicago as a Haven for Survivors of Torture
Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center


Related posts

More than any other part of the day, I was moved by the assurance with which Alderman Joe Moore, the resolution's sponsor, stated, "I expect this resolution will pass UNANIMOUSLY."

(See summary of testimony offered in Why Chicago Must Become a Torture-Free Zone )

It is perhaps the signal achievement of the film "Beneath the Blindfold" that it portrays four different survivors, each of whose experience of torture was distinct from that of any of the others, and each of whom has an otherwise unique personality, and yet each makes clear that they share a long-lasting trauma. One leaves the film with a deeply-felt sense of the lasting trauma caused by torture of any kind.

(See The Revelations of "Beneath the Blindfold" )

The Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo holds weekly vigils at Dearborn and Jackson in Chicago every Friday at 4:30 p.m. to support the Guantanamo Hunger Strikers and to demand that Guantanamo be shut down. (Learn more about weekly vigils by the Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo.)