By Carol Wickersham and Tom Driver

Many people think that under the present Administration the US has stopped sponsoring torture, but this is not so. Worse, public approval of the occasional use of torture has edged upward over the past year. According to a Pew poll released December 3, half of Americans now say that the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can either often (19%) or sometimes (35%) be justified. This is the first time in over five years of polling by Pew Research on this question that a majority has expressed these views. Another 16% say torture can be justified "rarely." Only 25% say it can "never" be justified. Still worse, an earlier Pew poll documented that the more frequently people attend church the more likely they are to find torture acceptable.

Riding the bus the other day, I was struck by how different worldviews play out in the smallest, as well as largest ways (you decide which is which). In the U.S., you enter the bus from the front, bringing you face to face with the driver and your obligation to pay the fare - maybe there's a machine you drop your coins into; maybe the driver takes your money himself; maybe there's a ticket you've already bought . . . but however it works, the very first thing you do is pay your money. No money, no entrance.

Now don't misunderstand - in Iraq, you must pay as well. But how the transaction takes place is instructive:

As over 70 Peacemakers prepare to gather for this event, please consider joining the Convocation Group on the PPF Network Site. This will be the primary place where we post news of the event and have conversations that can include those who can't attend in person. Join us!

a national gathering of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship to deepen the commitment to nonviolence and radical discipleship in the PC(USA)

A group of college students from the PCUSA’s College of Wooster need financial help to attend the national November Vigil to Close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) in Georgia. Two PCUSA General Assemblies have called for the closing of the school because of its sad history of training officers who have led military coups, death squads, assassination of religious leaders and other human rights abuses. The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) has established a fund to assist these college students’ travel and lodging expenses to participate in this peacemaking action.