The debate about torture has heated up again with the release of the movie "Zero Dark Thirty."

Open public discussion is a good thing; it is the basis for our democracy.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to have such an open debate when the citizens of this country do not have good and accurate information with which to work.

As the co-chair of the Interfaith Alliance of Central California, I led a diverse group of faith leaders in a meeting with Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office.

In conjunction with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, we asked that the senator work to make public the Senate Intelligence Committee's recently approved report on CIA post-9/11 torture. The report contains the information needed to give American citizens a true picture of what our government has done in our name.

Together with the wide spectrum of faith communities -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim and others -- in the IACC, I recognize torture to be a sin against humanity. Each tradition recognizes the sacredness of human life; this tenet is central to our various faith practices.

From my perspective as a follower of Jesus and leader of a local congregation, Jesus' words in Gethsemane are particularly powerful. In Matthew 26:52, he said, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

The use of torture degrades and damages not only the one tortured but the ones doing the torturing. When someone chooses such a path in an attempt to debase another's humanity, his or her own is debased in the process. Everyone's humanity is diminished.

Torture is not only immoral, it is illegal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

There is no way for our nation to take a righteous stance on human rights -- here or elsewhere -- when we abuse the human rights we claim to hold dear.

It is time for the citizens of this nation to hold accountable the government that claims to serve our interests. We know that forgiveness and reconciliation are possible, but only if we are able to own the wrong and make it right.

As Thomas G. Long, a professor at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, writes in a recent column in Christian Century, "If we allow movies and television to be our only storytellers, then we are bound to be alarmed when they press the limits of acceptability."

The recently released, Oscar-nominated film, "Zero Dark Thirty," has been criticized for implying that torture led to finding Osama bin Laden, running the risk of leaving viewers to conclude that torture was effective -- and worse, morally acceptable.

None of this is true.

Senators John McCain, Carl Levin and Feinstein have all expressed disappointment with "Zero Dark Thirty," saying, "We believe the film is grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location of ... bin Laden."

They should know as they are privy to the Intelligence Committee's torture report. The citizens of this country could make that kind of assessment for themselves if they had access to factual information, as well.

It is time for the committee to release its report, so we are all operating in a shared reality. Only in that way will the misinformation in films such as "Zero Dark Thirty" be perceived correctly for what it is -- sheer entertainment -- and not the basis for moral and political decisions.

The foundational belief in the establishment of our nation as a representative democracy is that the people, the citizens, have the wherewithal to make sound decisions.

But how can we if we don't have the information to make such decisions, to be informed citizens and moral agents in our world?

Fiction must not be the only voice heard. Learn the facts.