Who Would Jesus Torture?

Joe Phelps, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky reflects on this question at EthicsDaily.com.

Where is the outcry from those who read their Bible every day before or after they read the newspaper reports that Congress approved this torture? What interpretation of Jesus' words, "Love your enemies," encourages legislating torture? WWJT: Who would Jesus torture?

U.S. churches of all denominations are embroiled over what constitutes a faithful response to a variety of social issues such as homosexuality and abortion. Meanwhile, the soul of our country drifts further afield from the clarion message of the church's Leader: be healers, blessers, reconcilers, lovers, agents of peace.

Jesus' message is belittled as naive by many politicians and patriots. Instead, they advocate an "all's fair in war" strategy that temporarily shelves values they would normally hold dear. This is to be expected, for many politicians and patriots hold different values and see life from a different vantage point than Jesus' followers. My only question for them is, in the words of TV counselor Dr. Phil, how's that working out for you? Has fighting fire with fire been an effective way to contend against hatred?

But to those committed to following Jesus I ask: Where are you? Why aren't you waving your Bibles, quoting chapter and verse, holding protests on the Capitol steps, demanding a hearing?

Earlier this week, I posted excerpts from Randall Balmer's recent article on torture, entitled Where's the Outrage?

One commenter affirmed torture with an "end justifies the means" attitude.

I disagree. Torture is morally reprehensible. Plain and simple, torture can never be justified

In his book, Thy Kingdom Come, Randall Balmer provides one example of how screwed-up the Bush Administration's pro-torture policy known as "extraordinary rendition" is....

Consider the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria. On September 26, 2002, U.S. authorities took him into custody at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. He was chained and shacked and accused of being "a member of a known terrorist organization." Under the administration's policy of "extraordinary rendition," Arar was shipped off to Syia by way of Jordan, where he was confined to an underground, gravelike, rat-infested cell. He was tortured by his captors for ten months. "Not even animals could withstand it," Arar said later. The U.S. government could find no evidence to support its charge that Arar was a member of a terrorist organization. No charges were ever filed, and he was finally released, without so much as an apology. (173-174)

I echo Pastor Phelps - Who Would Jesus Torture???