If there are activities of recent years that American Christians must repent of, supporting torture (or even enhanced interrogation techniques) is quite clearly towards the top of the list (if you or I happened to have been in support of it in any way). At least this is the issue at the forefront of the country’s mind, and doesn’t seem to be going away thanks to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (knew about the torture and said nothing?) and the Obama administration failing to give the public the full truth about the despicable acts perpetrated against human beings made in God’s image (all of whom we are commanded to love and pray for) during the last six to seven years.
On this issue, Bob Cornwall, a pastor in Troy, Michigan, wrote a pithy and convicting (not to mention spot on) argument:
Although I don’t buy the argument that the United States was or is a “Christian nation,” but if as most surveys suggest, we are a Christian majority nation, then the values of Jesus should be present in our moral debates. We may not agree as to how we apply our faith or scripture, but these are important issues that won’t go away. I do believe that our image as a nation and our moral authority have been degraded because we have allowed ourselves to use and justify torture.
There is nothing in that paragraph that I disagree with. We as a Church here in the United States must continue to stand up and make it abuntantly clear that we will not condone the torture that was committed, and that we apologize and repent for either being in support of these tactics used or for not speaking up earlier, protesting, and coming to the aid of those tortured. Thanks to Michael L. Westmoreland-White for linking to Bob Cornwall’s post.
