American Christian Flashpoint: Torture!

"Okay, what? THAT'S a flashpoint!?"

Maybe I have indeed lost my marbles, but follow me and maybe it will clear up. I read this article today in the USATODAY website. The title is "Poll shows support for torture among Southern evangelicals" Below is the first couple of paragraphs from the article:

By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — A new poll finds that nearly six in 10 white Southern evangelicals believe torture is justified, but their views can shift when they consider the Christian principle of the golden rule.

The poll released Thursday, commissioned by Faith in Public Life and Mercer University, found that 57% of respondents said torture can be often or sometimes justified to gain important information from suspected terrorists. Thirty-eight percent said it was never or rarely justified. But when asked if they agree that "the U.S. government should not use methods against our enemies that we would not want used on American soldiers," the percentage who said torture was rarely or never justified rose to 52%.

"Presenting people with this argument and identifying with the golden rule really does engage a different part of people's psyche and a part of their heart, their soul, and really does shift their views on torture," said Robert Jones, president of Public Religion Research, which was commissioned to conduct the poll.

The findings of this poll, which did not define torture, compared to a Pew Research Center poll from February that found that 48% of the general public think torture can be justified.

The new poll found that 44% of white Southern evangelicals rely on life experiences and common sense to determine their views about torture. A lower percentage, 28%, said they relied on Christian teachings or beliefs.

In summary, the Christians polled had a higher degree of thinking torture could be justified than the general public of the nation. Upon hearing the pollster remind them of the golden rule, 14% of the 600 decided to change their mind. More subscribed this to "life experiences and common sense" than to "Christian teaching or beliefs."

I know this is controversial, as well as extremely discomforting. But we need to talk about this.

I'll tell you what I first thought about this article: I dismissed it. The poll was skewed. Those "Southern evangelicals" don't represent me. Torture could be justified, it makes sense. I pictured a radical Islamic terrorist with the abort code to a dozen nuclear warheads bearing down on America soil. We need that code.

Well, the poll might have been skewed, but my thoughts most certainly were. "Southern" and "evangelical" these people may be, but I bet they identified themselves as Christians. Most probably were. I tried to justify torture myself--I was one of them. Not all terrorists are radical Islamic, or even Islamic for that matter. Regardless of faith, we don't want to allow our American troops to be tortured, but we'd certainly do it to them. I've dehumanized them. I didn't consider them to be the type of enemies that I should pray for. I was certainly not wanting to repay evil with good in this circumstance. Not that it mattered, I wasn't doing the torturing. I rationalized that this was different, that this was necessary, that the ends justified the means.

People, make no mistake. Across the globe, torture is generally accepted as immoral regardless of circumstances. Not to mention illegal. The Geneva Convention implicitly prevents it. The United Nations Convention against Torture explicitly forbids it, even in times of war. There is evidence that shows explicitly forbidding torture produces far more reliable information than otherwise. It was claimed by a U.S. Army General. Read it here. Read another article about there being dubious evidence of torture saving lives. Look at the Wikipedia page for waterboarding for an example of the methods--remember, it was debated not too long ago that this wasn't torture. Don't take my word on all of that--It would pay dividens for you to research it yourself.

What about scriptural proof? I'll be honest, I haven't done a full blown study on it yet--which is kind of funny, because it almost supports the statistic above that we ground our belief for torture from life experiences instead of the Bible. Hmm.. Here's one guy's findings saying that beatings aren't forbidden, and neither is torture. Of course, on the other hand, here's an article from Christianity Today about 5 Reasons Torture Is Always Wrong, which in my opinion seems to be more researched than the previous.

As for my thoughts, I will say I find it intriguing how God has a way of rooting for those who are oppressed (the sinners, the Israelites, slaves, captives, orphans, widows...), and isn't too pleased with those in power who abuse it. Does this translate to captives in torture, and the torturer? Possibly. Also consider what you do and how you think when you're intensely angry and yelling at someone, and how things get out of hand. I'd imagine the torturer would have the same problem, and things would most certainly get out of hand (with the pressures of believing the captive has pertinent information, and that the captive is defying him). And here's a zinger--would you do the torture yourself? Would you be willing to be present? If you wouldn't, why is it okay to make someone else do the dirty work?

Needless to say, I also came across plenty of blogs and articles that blasted Christians for hypocritical ethics in this matter. It could be rationalized that they'd all sing a different tune if the conditions changed, but I'm not concerned about their issue with torture at the moment. Right now I'm concerned about ours.

The mere fact the issue causes many of us to squirm (self included) makes me think we're not being honest with ourselves. It's quite possible we may need to do some explaining. And I don't mean to non-Christians (although that's not a bad idea). I mean God.

Of course, you can disagree with me. As I said before, this is indeed an ethical dilemma. We're going to lose the argument either way to somebody, and yet feel strongly about our decisions. I'm not going to insist you side with me, but I do want you to consider it. What I really want is for your faith to play a role in your decision.

As for me, I will no longer justify torture. Please forgive me for putting my fears above my faith. Pray that my decisions are increasingly based on my faith, and that my faith is not based on my decisions. And that I personally read the Bible for God's answer on the matter.