The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) was created in 2006 at a conference which it sponsored at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey to enable the US religious community to work for an end to U.S Sponsored Torture which was still going on at that time.  

NRCAT started its work right away after the conference and decided to place a full-page ad in the New York Times with its statement “Torture is a Moral Issue – A Statement of Conscience” signed by 27 well-known religious leaders. 

It read: “Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved -- policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable. 

Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now -- without exceptions.”

Among those religious leaders who signed it was President Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States. He had opposed U.S. sponsored torture as president and during his 40 years of extraordinary service as a humanitarian and as a person who worked hard for justice for all people.

You can imagine my surprise when one of the panelists was President Carter. 

I did some staff work for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture in 2006 and early 2007 and was hired as the Executive Director of the organization in May of 2007. I served until December 2013 when I retired.

The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidential election. The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy and human rights; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care.  It has often sponsored both public and private events on issues of importance to the Carters.

It hosted human rights champions gatherings which honor people working to protect human rights. It held one of those on December 3, 2008 where I was present. The private gatherings were happened during the day and in the evenings there were public events with speakers. President and Mrs. Carter were often the hosts of these events.

The event on December 3, 2008 was called “Restoring Rights and Rules: A New Human Rights Agenda for the United States.” The evening session was described this way “Restoring Rights and Rules: A New Human Rights Agenda for the United States., The U.S. human rights record has been greatly tarnished by Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and other events during recent years. Join human rights defenders from around the world and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as they discuss how the next administration can restore the reputation of the United States on human rights.” 

I was invited to both the private and public event that day as were several leaders of organizations that I worked closely with in Washington DC, where I lived, and elsewhere in the US. There were also anti-torture advocates from other countries as well. During the day there were several panels on torture itself and on the efforts that were being made to end U.S. sponsored torture.

And as Carter himself noted many times, his faith was at the heart of his justice efforts.

I was asked to moderate one of the panels. You can imagine my surprise when one of the panelists was President Carter.  He was gracious during the panel and extremely knowledgeable. I was honored and humbled to be on the same panel.

That evening. I and four others (most of them friends and colleagues) had dinner with Mrs. Carter, who like her husband was gracious and extremely knowledgeable. I remember asking her how Amy, her daughter, was and she kindly told me about where she was living and what she was doing. The program that evening, with a larger audience, talked about torture throughout the world as well as U.S. sponsored torture.

Reflecting on President Carter’s unwavering leadership against torture, his deep commitment to human rights, and the extraordinary 40 years he spent transforming the world after his presidency, I am reminded that his legacy is not just in policies but in the lives he touched and the justice he championed. He showed what it means to lead with courage, integrity, and an unshakable belief in the dignity of every human being.

And as Carter himself noted many times, his faith was at the heart of his justice efforts. I pray we encourage our leaders to embody the words of Jesus: 'Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' (Matthew 20:26-28).

Photo Credit: BruiserBrody10, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons