"As a Christian, I know it's wrong...."

In order to write more about torture...as promised in yesterday's post, I had to read more about torture. Specifically how Christians feel about it and how those who approve, reconcile that belief with the teachings of Jesus.

We all know what Jesus said about the way to treat our enemies. Love them...do good to those who persecute you. Although not specifically addressed in scripture, I think it is a sure bet that waterboarding was not on the list of ways to "love your enemy."

I suppose a quick google search would yield many webpages that support "justified" torture. A (surprising) poll by The Pew Forum showed that evangelical Christians....people who attend church at least weekly are the most likely sement of our population to support torture. But I wonder how surprising that really is. Evangelical Christians are also the most likely to believe that the accounts in the OT are the literal retelling of the God ordained directives....instructions to the Children of Israel to possess the Promised Land. (And the atrocities committed against the people already living in the land...well...all's well that ends well for God's chosen people)

They are also the most likely to believe in a literal, firey, "age without end" torture pit. A literal hell. A place where God not only tortures the prisoners with fire and brimstone and demons and worms that never die but arranges to keep them conscious forever so that he can continue to torture them.

Keith retold a joke the other day, a joke I originally heard a while back. It does expose the inconsistency in the beliefs of many who claim to follow Jesus.
This is from a live comedy routine by Daniel Tosh which can be viewed in its entirety here.

Does everybody have their WWJD bracelets on? They're not magical. They're just a reminder to be a better person...to live a better life. It's true.Cause I was wearing my bracelet recently, and I was in the movie theater, and this guy's cell phone went off -- don't you just hate that? Then he picked it up, 'Hey, how's it going? I'm in a movie.' And I'm like, 'Hey! Get off the phone!' And he's like, 'Mind your own business.' And I almost went crazy, but then I looked at my bracelet: what would Jesus do? So I lit him on fire and sent him to Hell. I'll be honest, I felt a lot better afterwards. Those things work."

Just a joke...but it gets the point across!!!

Among some of the results from a google search on "Christians and torture," I came upon several websites from yesteryear (2005ish) that talked about the abuse perpetrated by American servicemen at Abu Ghraib prison. At the time the story hit the news, I must not have been paying much attention. An article on Wikipedia gives a thorough overview of the situation, including the verdicts of those found guilty.

As I scanned the articles, I came upon an oft repeated quote by Spec. Charles A. Graner Jr

"The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.' "

An article on anitwar.com called You Can't Be a Christian and Support Torture is worth the read.