A recent survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life indicates that 54% of churchgoers (as defined as people who attend church at least once a week) says that torture is often or sometimes justified. Granted that the way the survey defines churchgoers don't distinguish between devout Christians and cultural Christians. But regardless, this is a startling statistic. This confirms that the bible-belt Republicans are more influenced by the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld than they are by the words and values of Christ.
I cannot possibly fathom how the use of torture can be justifiable by Christian doctrine. Throughout the New Testament, Christians are told to love our enemies, to pray for them, to bless them, to turn our cheeks when they turn to strike us. When Peter wields a dagger and cuts off the ear of one of the guards who came to arrest Jesus, Jesus rebukes Peter and heals the guard. This is the Jesus I see in the Bible, not the Jesus that the likes of Dick Cheney seem to see.
The likes of al Qaeda and Islamic extremists pose enormous threats to international security. Their tactics are savage and heinous. They should be tried for crimes against humanity. But these reasons do not justify any use of torture. I am extremely saddened that the president of the National Association of Evangelicals declined to comment on this. He should be the first person to oppose the use of torture.
I'm no theologian by any means. I have my faults and sins. I do not wish to judge the people in this statistical sample who advocated the use of torture. But I find it appalling that there are Christians who can somehow reconcile two ideologies that seem polar to each other. To read more, click here.
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I've thought about this question before. If I am put in the situation in combat, where I have to kill a man. Where do my convictions lie? How am I loving this guy as myself and considering him more significant than myself if I am killing him and he probably does not know Christ?
This is the answer that most Christians give. There is a sense of just judgment even as humans on earth. In theory that is. In practice, its a completely different story. But the mentality is that by killing an enemy combatant, you are in fact saving the lives of those Marines that he is trying to kill and even the effect that he might have in terrorist acts against civilian populations around the world. So in fact, you are saving people by killing.
It's a circular argument though...
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