Tuesday 15 January 2008

Against torture?



I have been surprised, on a number of occassions recently, where Christians have stated to me that they support torture in certain situations. Particularily where terrorism is involved, and torture may be used (supposedly) to stop a major terror plot. I have wanted to write for a number of weeks now on why I disagree with torture, in all situations, at any time, for any reason, in any place.

1.) Jesus said love your enemies. Not "Love your enemies, except when they are REALLY your enemies, and may hurt you, then you can hurt them." This may seem as if I am oversimplifing the issue, please comment if you think this.

2.) Information extracted under torture CANNOT be considered as 100% credible. I think that if I was in immense pain, and being told to tell someone something for days and even weeks I'd tell them exactly what they wanted to hear. On a side note, it cannot stand up in a court of law as credible (meaning a Court of Law, where the law is actually adhered to.)

3.) I don't think Jack Bauer should be a roll model no matter how much you like watching 24.

4.) People get it wrong. Just like I'm against capital punishment, I'm against torture. God is the judge.

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