Christians Largely Mum on Torture
Ray McGovern - AntiWar.com - August 1, 2009
Anyone harboring doubts that the institutional Church is riding shotgun for the system, even regarding heinous sin like torture, should be chastened by the results of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.
Who but the cowardly crew leading the "Christian" churches can be held responsible for the fact that many of their flock believe torture of suspected terrorists is "justified?"
Those polled were white non-Hispanic Catholics, white Evangelicals, and white mainline Protestants. A majority (54 percent) of those who attend church regularly said torture could be "justified," while a majority of those not attending church regularly responded that torture was rarely or never justified.
I am not a psychologist or sociologist. But I recall that one of the first things Hitler did on assuming power was to ensure there was a pastor in every Lutheran and Catholic parish in Germany. Why? Because he calculated, correctly, that here would be a force for stability for his regime.
Thus began another horrid chapter in the history of those professing to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth but had forgotten his repeated admonition, Do not be afraid.
A mere seven decades after the utter failure of church leaders in Germany, their current American counterparts have again yielded to fear, and have condoned evils like torture by their deafening silence.
What kinds of folks comprise this 54 percent? An informal "survey" of my friends suggests these are "my-country-first" people — like the fellow who recently gave me the finger when he saw my bumper sticker, which simply says "God bless the rest of the world too."
They are people accustomed to hierarchy and comfortable being told what they should think and do to preserve "our way of life."
They place a premium on nationalism, which they call patriotism, and on what the Germans call Ordnung. I suppose that this may be part of why they go to church on Sunday.
It’s a problem that has existed for almost 1,700 years, ever since 4th Century Christians jettisoned their heritage of non-violent resistance to war and threw in their lot with Constantine.
Subservience
Nowhere is the phenomenon of obeisance to hierarchical power highlighted more clearly than in the Grand Inquisitor story in Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who could plumb the human heart as few others.
In the tale, Dostoevsky has Jesus joining the "tortured, suffering people" of Seville during the Inquisition. The Cardinal of Seville immediately jails and interrogates Jesus, telling him that the Church has "corrected" his big mistake.
Rather than donning "Caesar’s purple," Jesus gave us freedom of conscience.
While it has been 130 years since he wrote Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky captures the trap into which so many American "believers" have fallen in forfeiting freedom through fear. His portrayal of Inquisition reality brings us to the brink of the moral precipice on which our country teeters today.
It is as though he knew what would be in store for us as fear was artificially stoked after the attacks of 9/11.
Here is how the cardinal ridicules Christ for imposing on humans the heavy burden of freedom of conscience:
"Didst thou forget that man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil? … We teach them that it’s not the free judgment of their hearts, but mystery which they must follow blindly, even against their conscience. … In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet [and] become obedient. … We shall tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name. … We shall tell them that every sin will be expiated if it is done with our permission."
Recently, prominent Baptist layman and distinguished senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, gave a hat-tip to the Inquisition. At a May 13 Senate hearing discussing interrogation techniques like waterboarding, Graham explained that, "One of the reasons these techniques have been used for about 500 years is that they work."
I was reminded of one of the things Gandhi said about Christians: "Everyone in the world knows that Jesus and his teachings were non-violent except Christians."
And the reason that regular churchgoers don’t seem to know this is because the historical Jesus is not preached.
My guess is that those who go to church on Sunday expect a modicum of moral leadership. If the pastor is silent on torture, then torture must somehow be okay. How easy it is then to cede one’s conscience to an American-flag-draped pulpit.
Jesus (and Luther) Didn’t Really Mean It?
A progressive Lutheran pastor in Dallas asked me to give a talk to his parish on the issues I had been addressing in my writings. It struck me that since George W. Bush had moved into their neighborhood, I might ask the congregants how they thought they should relate to someone who had given written approval to torture.
I was too clever by half — actually, naïve. I would show them the "smoking gun" memorandum signed by George W. Bush on Feb. 7, 2002, which the Senate Armed Forces Committee has determined "opened the way" to all manner of detainee abuse, and then I would challenge them by quoting Martin Luther who, after all, was one of their guys.
I chose this passage cited by George Hunsinger in an essay he wrote in 1987 (appearing in his book Disruptive Grace):
"If," wrote Martin Luther, "I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of Gods except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing him. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield, except there, is mere flight and disgrace if one flinches at that point."
Hunsinger emphasizes that faithfulness to Jesus of Nazareth is always situational, that one can spout impeccably orthodox theological truths and still be "fatally disloyal."
Genuine loyalty is proven where it counts — in the pitch of battle, where it really costs something. Writing 22 years ago, Hunsinger was already addressing what he called "an overwhelming spiritual collapse, in which we have lost touch with even minimal standards of morality."
"The prevailing sense seems to be that, if the demands of biblical morality contradict the dictates of national security, so much the worse for biblical morality. … Dungeons … torture, and death are described as belonging to the free world. … War criminals in high places we honor. … Acts of aggression we celebrate as noble deeds. … of preemptive self-defense. Orwell has become our destiny. …
"The passive acquiescence of a Christian community which has lost its moral conscience in matters of state contributes substantially … to misery and oppression. … ‘Seek your own welfare above all else’ has become the maxim of the day."
Hunsinger has earned the right to criticize those who confess Jesus of Nazareth "from the safety of some remote enclave, where confession may be true but costs nothing."
He is professor of systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, but was so aghast at U.S. practice of torture that he devoted untold time and energy to founding the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT).
Luther Not Popular in Dallas
I suggested to the gathering of Lutherans that Dallas, where the "decider" on torture is now their neighbor, might be where the battle rages for them. I had very few takers.
"But he kept us safe … isn’t it better to fight the terrorists over there than to fight them here?"
There was little appetite to listening to THAT Luther in that Lutheran church. The pastor shared with me later that he had encountered all manner of criticism for having invited someone disrespectful of George W. Bush.
Despite the turbulence I caused, the pastor thanked me for coming, but noted that "torture is not high on anyone’s agenda."
In a brief thank-you note he wrote, "I believe that if the full scope of the nation’s use of torture comes to light, there may be need for churches to propose confession and repentance, as a positive witness for the rest of the world." [...]
In sum, with respect to the Christian churches I believe author Chris Hedges summarizes the situation neatly, if sadly:
"The utter failure of nearly all our religious institutions — whose texts are
unequivocal about murder — to address the essence of war has rendered them
useless. These institutions have little or nothing to say in wartime because the
god they worship is a false god, one that promises victory to those who obey the
law and believe in the manifest destiny of the nation."
[...]
---------------------------
Related CIVICS NEWS Posts:
~Evangelicals support torture 50% more than non-religious folks
~Sexual torture in Iraq, More HERE
~Detainees KILLED by U.S. torturers
~Laurence Vance on the Christian and torture
~George Washington on Torture
~Don't bother torturing them--just murder them!
~Talk radio host gets waterboarded, admits its torture
~Cheney told torturers "push harder" to get false intel
~IMPORTANT: The record on US government torture
~Can we torture? "Yes we can!"
~Great Ron Paul clip: What if the American People learned the Truth?
~Bush-style torture, murder continue under Obama
~More former Bush people repenting on torture
~Documents reveal prisoners tortured to death
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Your Thoughts?