I don't expect a lot of people to really understand my position on torture. It comes from an authentically religious worldview, a way of seeing the world that takes the existence of God as a given. I not only believe that there is one true Creator-God, but that this deity is perfect in His holiness and uncompromising in His expectation that we try to follow in His footsteps.
The Bible says that we are not to fear those whose power extends only to harming us in the flesh, but rather to fear the One (God), whose power extends to even into death to stand in judgement of everyone's soul. I see the issue of torture as a true test of spiritual character for our country. The history of God's relationship with His creation is one of protecting it from evil against odds that would be impossible for man. Trust in the Lord and He will deliver you from your enemies.
Some of the things that are being talked about are not torture, they're just playing hardball. Withholding food from enemy combatants until they talk, depriving them of sleep and making them listen to loud music are a far cry from the rack. Waterboarding and things like that, are not. They stand precisely at the precipice where we decide what kind of country do we want to be. That's when we go from aggravating the weak-willed to making people genuinely fear for their lives.
Oh sure, we're civilized enough right now that state-sanctioned rape and things like that won't happen for the time being or probably within a generation, but they'll happen at some point in the future. Only an idiot would look at this moral issue and think that it is immune from the slippery slope that has had America sledding toward Soddom for the past few generations on other issues from greed to sexuality.
If we go down this path, make no mistake about it. We will be different in terms of degree, but not fundamentally who we are, from our enemies. We'll just be the lesser of the two evils, and that is a far cry from being the "good alternative" that previous generations tried to be for European imperialism. To put it in terms that conservatives will understand, we'll play libertine San Francisco to the Islamic enemy's Bangkok. How do you like them apples?
Oh, no, no - how do YOU like them apples ;)
A little too tart for my tastes...
I think it's a rather uncomplicated issue myself.
We all agree torture is evil. The question, then, becomes, "Would you rather die than perform something that evil?" Those who would prefer anything to death will of course choose torture. Those who fear God rather than death will oppose it.
NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
And true ;)
El Borak,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. We both know that one. It is not something that we can expect from the heathen social conservative whose legalism makes them a latter day Pharisee. Like you, I recognize the illusory nature of this world and realize that it is God, not Bush, that has kept us safe. One need only realize how easy it would be to slip a nuclear bomb into a cargo container to realize how much we're cradled in God's hand, not in the arms of Big Brother.
Wonder Woman,
Glad you got a chuckle out of it ;)