| We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. —Jonathan Swift |
Torture and American Christianity December 25, 2007
Posted by Rastaban in : Bushwacked, Christianity, Civil Unliberties, Ethics & Morality, Religion, Torture , 5 commentsDecember 25, the holiday long celebrated as the birthday of the Unconquered Sun, but more recently as the birthday of Jesus Christ, the central figure in Christianity. Jesus is generally presented as a pacifist, author of the sermon on the mount with its beatitudes (”blessed are the peacemakers…”), but more recently his followers in America find it preferable not to love their enemies but to torture them.
These Christians, who generally call themselves evangelicals and fundamentalists because they take the fundamental tenets of their religion seriously, have managed to become powerful enough to dominate the Republican party and in 2000 they elected* one of their own as President of the United States. Within a year, this very Christian President began laying out plans for torturing his enemies.
Christianity and torture have, unfortunately, a long historical association. Indeed, the Spanish Inquisition perfected many of the most famous torture techniques, including waterboarding. You might think that Christians would be eager to strand Christianity’s associations with torture in the distant middle ages. You would think wrongly. Under the champion of Christianity residing in the White House, torture of prisoners became the official policy** of the U. S. Government. (more…)
