Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

Mark Shea has had an ongoing discussion over at his blog, much of it heated at times, over the issue of the torture of prisoners (here is the latest). I do not intend to import that discussion here but it came to mind while reading on the topic in an article over at Christianity Today.

I do not know how to say this without sounding condescending, which I certainly do not intend…but I was pleasantly surprised by the article. It was well presented and correctly identified the dignity of the human person as the principle criteria by which one must evaluate any treatment of prisoners. Evangelical theology is such areas, when it intersects with politics, often seems to be biased in the direction of particular political platforms. That was not the case here. In his article, David Gushee shows that because of the dignity of the human person, there can be no exceptions in regard to torture and lists five reasons, all of which seem quite reasonable to me.

One argument that seems to be missing from his list is the moral principle that one may not do evil even if good may come from it. This together with recognizing the intrinsic dignity of every human person, no matter what henious crimes he may have committed, and understanding what treating someone with dignity means are the keys to determining what is acceptable treatment of a prisoner and what is not.

Now lest I be accused of being anti-military, soft on terror, a left-wing dove, etc., let me offer that at spent 20 years in the Air Force, with one assignment bringing the possibility of combat close to home. I have had friends and family engage in combat operations in both Gulf Wars. On the eve of the invasion, a good friend who I had sponsored into the Church and who was part of the invasion force, contacted me from his staging area. He had been a pastor of a CEC congregation in west Texas and joined the Army just to feed his family after joining the Church; this just months before 9-11. He was torn as to whether he could participate in what many in the Church were calling an immoral war. I advised him then, as I still believe, that while one may legitimately disagree on the prudence of the war, it was a just war and he should feel no compunction against serving. In the end, I would admit to having much more hawk in me than dove, which I continually must work on. As my boss says, being trained by the military, I want to blow up my enemies. However, I also recognize that martial inclinations, testosterone induced affectivities, or “real-life” pragmatism, cannot justify the unjustifiable. Torture, even if one could show it works to save lives, can never be morally justified.