Recently the editor of a Christian Denominations Newspaper wrote about his position on "waterboarding" . . . that it was "Torture" and was an indication of "Moral Inconsistancy." We disagree. His statements are in RED as Ameritianity responds.
RE: Torture, life & moral consistency
"But most reasonable people would agree waterboarding is torture. And my own tribe of Christians leads the way in embracing it. This is disturbing. Some people defend torture because they believe torturing a small number of foreigners can be justified to save the lives of a larger number of Americans."
This writer would fall into the category of Americans who are, in your words, "unreasonable." Equating favoring "waterboarding" to a "utilitarian approach to ethics" simply doesn't hold water. This is not a case of "the ends justifies the means" or "situational ethics" as you imply in your editorial. (David)
The phrase "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" comes to mind. These terms are found in a specific order because without the first, the following have no value. In our Christian community, we speak of the "Right to Life." We take a stand against abortion because we believe Life begins at conception and that Life is a gift from God. If we did not believe that the Life of a baby is of greater value than the Liberty or Pursuit of Happiness of the mother, we would not deserve to win the fight against abortion. God's plan of Salvation is all about the blessing of Eternal Life. The very price God determined to be the price that He would pay for the Salvation of all who would accept His Gift and His Plan was no less than the Life of His Son Jesus.
Let us get a couple issues out of the way before getting to the ultimate question. Yes, some people in our Armed Forces have mistreated prisoners and that is wrong. Some superiors may have ordered some to carry out illegal mistreatment by their subordinates. That is wrong. Police Officers have been known to use excessive force which could also be torture, on non-foreigners. But that is not the issue herein. Waterboarding may or may not be "torture." That would be based on the definition people choose to use which is usually based on whether or not they support the political party in power at the moment. But we will go with the assumption that it is torture.
In your editorial you mention "suspected terrorists." None of the captives who were waterboarded were suspects. They were captured on the battlefield attempting to "torture to death" our men, who were fighting for freedom, fighting for the Life of others. In addition, they admitted to knowing about additional attacks against our country which were imminent and designed to "torture to death" even more Americans.
You write "Ironically, many Christians who practice utilitarian ethics to justify terrorism excoriate others who argue the ends justify the means to support embryonic stem cell research." Sir, resorting to waterboarding to save thousands of lives is not "terrorism." You state that "Considerable evidence suggests torture is less effective than many other interrogation methods." That is true. Three (3) captured terrorists were waterboarded. That is why every other possible technique was used by our government before resorting to waterboarding when time allowed.
Funny thing about Life! Even the terrorists who were waterboarded seem to have a higher regard for Life than you do. The terrorists were willing to give up their groups plans for future attacks on the United States for the purpose of taking away the Lives of Americans in order to . . . save their own Lives! They could have allowed themselves to die for their cause. But, they chose Life.
It was God who created Life out of dust. It was God who breathed Life into man. God wants us to place the very highest regard and value on Life just as He did in providing that Life was the ultimate price that would be paid for the Souls of men. Sometime in the past couple of years you spoke about our need to lessen the importance of "Nationalism." In your editorial we are discussing today, you mentioned "torturing a few foreigners" to save a larger number of Americans. You seem to be supporting the current tendency for some to bash the USA, implying that we are those "arrogant Americans." Questions: Who created nations? Who divided people by language and disbursed them around the world? Who established national government? Kings?
We live in an imperfect nation with imperfect people. But, millions have sacrificed the most valuable commodity in creation so that this nation may long endure. We are blessed to live in the most successful, most free, most giving, nation in the history of the world. No nation has paid a greater price for the LIFE of those in other nations. God's Word tells us:
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
Millions of Americans who are called by the name of Christ humble themselves, pray, and seek God?s face while turning from their wicked ways every single day. God has healed our land many times. We are indeed a blessed nation. We are blessed because we have recognized the value of God's Created Life. We have remained free because we have been willing to sacrifice for Life, both within our borders and on the land of those "foreigners" you mentioned. Without Life nothing else is of value. When confronted with the opportunity to save Lives, any and all force is justified and it has nothing to do with the ends justifying the means or situational ethics.
"Catholics come the closest to being consistent, but evangelicals are far from it." you said. My goodness! In the most recent general election, the majority a Catholics voted for the most Pro-Abortion, Anti-Life President in our nation's history. The majority of evangelicals did not. To evangelicals, Life is the ultimate issue. You are embarrassed? You are disappointed? Sir, you have yet to understand the value our God has placed on the Life He created. You failed to mention the demographic of Blacks in the USA. 95% of Blacks voted for the Black candidate in our most recent election and he is the most Anti-Life candidate in history having boasted:
"Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it's never been more important to protect a woman?s right to choose....Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America." Barack H. Obama
RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. Rules for Radicals By Saul Alinsky - 1971
This rule is most often used when applying to the political goals of defeating a political enemy. It is also applicable when dealing with those whose desire it is to kill us. The enemy would like to put us in the position of violating our own standards when dealing with their evil. They will succeed in this if we do not understand the Order of God's Creation. Our current enemy does not realize that we place the highest value on the very thing they place the least value on . . . LIFE.
Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness. Think about the choice of birth or abortion. Would we not encourage a young woman with an unplanned, untimely pregnancy to sacrifice her personal pursuit of happiness, and possibly her liberty, at least temporarily, for the Life of the baby she is carrying?
On a personal note, I have experienced the inability, for a time, to pursue my happiness. I have had my liberty taken away for a while. But, I still had my life. With my life, I was able to have my liberties restored and have been able to resume my pursuit of happiness.
It is regrettable that you are "disappointed" and "embarrassed" to learn that the demographic group in which you reside is the segment that "most enthusiastically embrace torture." It is even more regrettable that you have chosen to label them as enthusiastic torturers. No one, including those in the Bush administration who were faced with defending the USA, are enthusiastic about torture.
We often encourage our children to think about what they might face some day and decide beforehand what they will do in situations which may present themselves. If a criminal or terrorist took a loved one of yours captive and was holding them in a place where they knew the oxygen would run out in one hour, decide now what you would do. If you can't decide, or if you don't choose to do anything possible to save the life of your loved one, please, make a note of my phone number now and give me a call should such a situation arise. I will choose Life.
Editor: www.ameritianity.com
PS:
We owe the Bush Administration tremendous gratitude for keeping the USA safe from more attacks. Even in doing so, those interrogated still have their heads, their eyes, their limbs, and their lives. We've had enough of the Obama pretentious "moral high ground". We expect our elected leaders to do all that is needed to keep America safe and free. We cannot allow the insanity of letting terrorists hit us first.
When someone has no moral or ethical foundation, when you have only the "opinion" of other men to rely on, and when that opinion is based on political motives, moral confusion follows. This President was confronted with pirates who had taken over 100+ ships off the coast of Somalia. No hostages have been killed. Pirates are teenagers. One hostage is taken and money is demanded. The decision is made to kill the pirates.
Yet, another President makes the decision, after a terrorist attack that killed 3000+ Americans, to "waterboard" three known terrorists, one who stated that he knew of additional imminent attacks on Americans, after members of Congress and the Legal Establishment gave advice and consent, and that President and his Administration are threatened with prosecution by the very people who authorized killing the teenagers who had not yet hurt anyone. All three terrorists who were "waterboarded" are still living, have their heads, arms, legs, fingers, and had an experience less traumatic than USMC Boot Camp or Navy Seal training, That is moral confusion and playing politics at a very dangerous level.
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