This paper uses an Augustinian construal of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity to analyze and assess the diversity of challenges facing faithful Christian witness, particularly in the United States, since 9/11. After describing the diverse challenges to proper inhabitation of these virtues and how attempts properly to inhabit them will inevitably put adherents in some tension with the culture as a whole, it ends with some general comments about what this teaches us not only regarding the condition of Christian faith in the contemporary world but also about how to apply Augustine’s thought today.
Through a comparison of the use of torture by Chile under General Pinochet and the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay, the author argues that one of torture’s primary purposes is the fostering of a certain kind of social imagination of who our enemies are. The author then briefly suggests how communities of faith can resist this imagination.
Both the Torah’s commandment to observe the Sabbath and the Mishnah’s commentary on the creation of the first person enshrine the divine worth of every human being, however “other,” even criminals convicted of capital offenses. How we treat the least of society is the standard for how everyone ought to be treated. Such a view stands as a barrier to the practice of torture and animates the absolute prohibition of torture enunciated by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1999.
A national debate on torture has begun in the United States, initiated in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, fueled by hypothetical “ticking bomb” scenarios, inspired by the attempts of administration lawyers to weaken legal prohibitions, heightened by the ethical dilemmas faced by soldiers, law enforcement officers, and intelligence operatives in the presence of abusive interrogation procedures, and galvanized by public images of the descent into depravity that torture always involves. Rather than remain silent, the churches should now join this national debate and bring to it Christian perspectives relating to moral absolutes, the sacredness of the human person, the sacredness of norms, the requirement of judging means in relation to their ends, the respect due even to those who are guilty of crimes, and the venue that torture always affords for depraved and demonic conduct.
International law and theology are related to torture through the experience of a survivor of this crime against humanity. From this perspective, international law proved irrelevant, and theology became the problem of the absent God. As for government, the issue was, and continues to be, betrayal, the Bush administration being the most recent example. In calling for action against the ongoing practice of torture, the importance of ending impunity is noted. Those who facilitate or order the practice of torture must face judgment for their violation of law and for their role as perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
This essay offers a Christian moral analysis of torture. After defining torture and considering the international and domestic moral and legal strictures against torture, the essay moves on to offer six moral reasons why torture should be forbidden. The essay concludes with a call especially to evangelical Christians in the United States to demand that their government cease and desist from any form of torture.