FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 15, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow,
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and 202-547-1920
WASHINGTON, DC - Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, joined one hundred prominent Christian leaders in the United States in an open letter to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, asking him to speak out against his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The letter, sent to Kirill on March 11, laments the “tragic and terrible loss of innocent civilian life” and includes an “earnest plea that you use your voice and profound influence to call for an end to the hostilities and war in Ukraine and intervene with authorities in your nation to do so.”
His Holiness Kirill is Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is Russia's dominant religious group.
The faith leaders close their letter with these words:
"In this moment, as the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, you have the holy opportunity to play an historic role in helping to bring a cessation of senseless violence and a restoration of peace. We pray you will do so, and our prayers will accompany you."
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
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