“Christian” Groups Defend Bush’s Use of Torture
From Jesus is Not a Republican, by Randall Balmer, in the June 23, 2006, issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education:
The torture of human beings, God’s creatures – some guilty of crimes, others not – has been justified by the Bush administration, which also believes that it is perfectly acceptable to conduct surveillance on American citizens without putting itself to the trouble of obtaining a court order. Indeed, the chicanery, the bullying, and the flouting of the rule of law that emanates from the nation’s capital these days make Richard Nixon look like a fraternity prankster.
Where does the religious right stand in all this? Following the revelations that the U.S. government exported prisoners to nations that have no scruples about the use of torture, I wrote to several prominent religious-right organizations. Please send me, I asked, a copy of your organization’s position on the administration’s use of torture. Surely, I thought, this is one issue that would allow the religious right to demonstrate its independence from the administration, for surely no one who calls himself a child of God or who professes to hear “fetal screams” could possibly countenance the use of torture. Although I didn’t really expect that the religious right would climb out of the Republican Party’s cozy bed over the torture of human beings, I thought perhaps they might poke out a foot and maybe wiggle a toe or two.
I was wrong. Of the eight religious-right organizations I contacted, only two, the Family Research Council and the Institute on Religion and Democracy, answered my query. Both were eager to defend administration policies. “It is our understanding, from statements released by the Bush administration,” the reply from the Family Research Council read, “that torture is already prohibited as a means of collecting intelligence data.” The Institute on Religion and Democracy stated that “torture is a violation of human dignity, contrary to biblical teachings,” but conceded that it had “not yet produced a more comprehensive statement on the subject,” even months after the revelations. Its president worried that the “anti-torture campaign seems to be aimed exclusively at the Bush administration,” thereby creating a public-relations challenge.
I'm sorry, but the use of torture under any circumstances is a moral issue, not a public-relations dilemma.
Randall Balmer’s new book, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament, will be released July 1st.
You can listen to NPR’s Morning Edition interview with Randall Balmer here: “Evangelical: Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith.”
The torture of human beings, God’s creatures – some guilty of crimes, others not – has been justified by the Bush administration, which also believes that it is perfectly acceptable to conduct surveillance on American citizens without putting itself to the trouble of obtaining a court order. Indeed, the chicanery, the bullying, and the flouting of the rule of law that emanates from the nation’s capital these days make Richard Nixon look like a fraternity prankster.
Where does the religious right stand in all this? Following the revelations that the U.S. government exported prisoners to nations that have no scruples about the use of torture, I wrote to several prominent religious-right organizations. Please send me, I asked, a copy of your organization’s position on the administration’s use of torture. Surely, I thought, this is one issue that would allow the religious right to demonstrate its independence from the administration, for surely no one who calls himself a child of God or who professes to hear “fetal screams” could possibly countenance the use of torture. Although I didn’t really expect that the religious right would climb out of the Republican Party’s cozy bed over the torture of human beings, I thought perhaps they might poke out a foot and maybe wiggle a toe or two.
I was wrong. Of the eight religious-right organizations I contacted, only two, the Family Research Council and the Institute on Religion and Democracy, answered my query. Both were eager to defend administration policies. “It is our understanding, from statements released by the Bush administration,” the reply from the Family Research Council read, “that torture is already prohibited as a means of collecting intelligence data.” The Institute on Religion and Democracy stated that “torture is a violation of human dignity, contrary to biblical teachings,” but conceded that it had “not yet produced a more comprehensive statement on the subject,” even months after the revelations. Its president worried that the “anti-torture campaign seems to be aimed exclusively at the Bush administration,” thereby creating a public-relations challenge.
I'm sorry, but the use of torture under any circumstances is a moral issue, not a public-relations dilemma.
Randall Balmer’s new book, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament, will be released July 1st.
You can listen to NPR’s Morning Edition interview with Randall Balmer here: “Evangelical: Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith.”
posted by Darrell Grizzle | 10:51 PM
1 Comments:
This lack of policy by assorted Christian denominations towards torture is nothing new. Even quite humane congregations allow that there are instances where torture is, if not acceptable, at least tolerable. And I can't agree with that, which is one of many reasons I have never been able to become Christian.
Now, given the directin Chritianity is taking, I not only will never be Christian, I have - for the first time in my life - started actively persuading friends away from Chritianity. I never thought I'd condemn a religion becasue I've always advocated acceptance.
I cannot accept, nor can I tolerate, what Christianity is becoming and how, in it's changes, it is damaging my country and my society.
Who'd have thought I'd spend my senior years being a radical activist?
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