5 Reasons Torture is Always Wrong
Once again, the evangelical magazine Christianity Today has spoken with a clear and prophetic voice which, hopefully, will not go unheard among its many readers who blindly support President Bush. The article details, from scripture and from common sense, 5 Reasons Torture is Always Wrong – and why there should be no exceptions.
It is tragic that such an article is needed in the first place, but many evangelical Christians support Bush and his policies of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (Republican doublespeak for torture), even though they clearly violate everything the Christian faith stands for.
Here are the 5 reasons, each of which is detailed in the article:
1. Torture violates the dignity of the human being.
2. Torture mistreats the vulnerable and violates the demands of justice.
3. Authorizing torture trusts government too much.
4. Torture dehumanizes the torturer.
5. Torture erodes the character of the nation that tortures.
The article concludes:
It is past time for evangelical Christians to remind our government and our society of perennial moral values, which also happen to be international and domestic laws. As Christians, we care about moral values, and we vote on the basis of such values. We care deeply about human-rights violations around the world. Now it is time to raise our voice and say an unequivocal no to torture, a practice that has no place in our society and violates our most cherished moral convictions.
Read the article on the Christianity Today website.
posted by Darrell Grizzle | 1:56 PM
8 Comments:
Here in Europe we're really concerned about extraordinary rendition - the CIA ferrying suspects around the world in search of countries prepared to extract information by whatever means that local laws allow (or rather the lack of laws!)This surrogate use of torture doesn't show the US in a particularly good light
Do you think the election of George Bush is the ultimate demonstration of the triumph of democracy & why he's so keen on spreading it throughout the world?
The question that usually comes around during discussions like this is:
"If your loved one was held hostage with a limited time left in this world...would you personally condone torture of a captive with knoweledge of your loved ones whereabouts to secure their freedom?"
What is the answer to this- is there an answer to this?
Radical forgiveness and love is the only power that has the ability to negate force.
Isaiah, that question is actually an easy one: NO. Information obtained by torture is notoriously unreliable -- so in addition to being anti-Christian, torture is just plain stupid.
Steve: The election of George W. Bush was in no way a triumph of democracy. He did not win the 2000 election; he was awarded the presidency by a Supreme Court decision. And in 2004 he got only 51% of the vote.
The way George W. is totally disregarding our Constitution, as well as violating many of the international treaties the US has signed, shows that he has no clue what democracy really is -- or integrity, for that matter.
1- In discussions of torture with right wingers, you may want to emphasize the fact that torture leads to bad information. The right wing may pay lip service to morality, but can easily justify wrongdoing in a "war on terror"
2- The reaction to the victory of Hamas in Palestine calls into question our "commitment to democracy". If you allow people the right to vote, you should not be surprised when they elect someone that you do not like.
Dropping in for a two in one - to see how you're doing and as part of the ProgFaith carnival.
I totally agree with the all these points about why torture is wrong, and I'm happy to see them step up and say so, especially since their readership is so mixed on politics.
I am appalled that we don't seem to have any laws that would prevent our using other countries for this purpose. The American government should be prevented from manipulating terminology simply to avoid accountability to the global community and to its own citizens. Ultimately the responsibility is ours if we have taken away someone's liberty, especially in cases where we don't even have reasonable cause. At the least, they have the protections of prisoners of war.
Great post.
I attended the No2Torture conference here in Miami in January. It grieved me that so few attended. It takes a while, sometimes, for many voices to gather together to say NO.
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