Read ‘Em And Weep
May 1st, 2009 by Brian Robertson
First, the numbers:
So, what are we to gather from this? The sad message is that the more often one attends religious services and the more Evangelical one is, the more one is in favor of using torture.
It’s that simple and that disturbing.
Where does this kind of thing, this idea that I think hits most people who are involved with the spirituality OF Jesus and not the religion ABOUT Jesus right square in the gut as being wrong, wrong, wrong. Take, however, a page from the Fundamental playbook — their love of that questionable book of the Bible, Revelations:
They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings someone.
-Revelation 9:4,5, NRSV
No one is saying that people who are out to harm other people cannot or should not be searched for, and quite often information from an individual will lead to another connection which leads to another connection, etc. But keep in mind the retired General who, speaking the other day, said the information was almost always unreliable — people will say what the can to get the pain to stop — but that he, in his experience, ended up with far more useable information with a cup of coffee and cigarettes. And not cigarettes applied to the sole of one’s bare foot.
If 54% of Christians attending services at least weekly say torture is and can be justified, they have a vision that I don’t share and, I suspect, many or most of you don’t share. Is there any wonder — and this is the key point — that those who seek the Presence of God and a deeper undersetanding of the mystery, wonder and challenge of Jesus’ teachings work from a central core of belief in Jesus’ teachings and God’s Love that shapes their spiritual profile, as it were. Those who search only for the seal of God on the forehead of another are bent in a direction that goes the other direction from a Christian mystic and, ultimately, from the life and teachings of Jesus whom they profess to worship.
Peace,
Rev. Brian
Technorati Tags: christian mystics, mystics, christian mysticism, torture, evangelical, fundamentalist, approving torture, divine love
“Those who search only for the seal of God on the forehead of another are bent in a direction that goes the other direction from a Christian mystic and, ultimately, from the life and teachings of Jesus whom they profess to worship”
SO VERY TRUE! Nicely put….
Torture is so very far from the kingdom of God..as is any form of abuse, physical, emotional or sexual. Just think of the horrors of the past and present that have been done in God’s name. How arrogant the human race has been….
Blessings
Susan
Brian:
When I read disturbing statistics like this it is necessary for me to immediately observe the anger and hatred that rises in my own soul. I have found that I get angriest at those things in others that lay unacknowledged and unexamined in my own heart. In other words: we are what we hate. What we hate in others is a reflection of what we see in ourselves.
Hatred of hatred is not the path of peace.
The Dhammapada says:
In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.
Both Jesus and the apostle Peter repeat this ancient law. We must not hate the torturers nor those who support and justify torture. Hate does not end hate. Spiritual violence does not end physical violence. I have observed that many advocates for peace are inwardly very violent and angry people. Our peacemaking must be deeply peaceful.
Christ forgave his torturers while they were torturing him. “Father, forgive them…” Peter told Christians to honor the Roman emperor – who at the time was Nero – infamous for torturing Christians for his pleasure, and who ultimately tortured Peter to death.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Marshall
Boy, sadness fills my soul..I guess the first thing that jumps out at me when I read this was, when you are driven by fear instead of love that maybe this is what it looks like…We are to strive as followers of the Lord to seek that perfect love that cast out fear.
Probably an inseen force in these statistics is just what you mentioned Brian…in that their doctirne is driving their decsions and not their heart. When you believe that your way is the right way to God, and that if you don’t believe a certain way you are condemned, then it doesn’t take much of a step to say that torture is okay because in a sense they are condemned already…just a thought.
Justice can justify almost anything when it is used for vengence…”an eye for an eye” this feeling is a hard thing to kill in man. Many have overcome it but obviously by the above statistics there are many among us who haven’t.
We need to keep spreading the love..
Go with God.
I do not believe in torture and as one who considers himself a “mystic” could not participate in the “act” of torturing any individual.
That being said…..the great span of “humanity” is NOT mystical, (whether they attend an Evangelical Church, a Mosque or a Temple) hence they are more apt and eager to “react” in accordance with whatever means are necessary to protect oneself and ones’ fellow man. Preservation of one’s temporal existence is as natural as it gets. And it is in this parameter most operate.
Secondly, a true “study” of torture should also include a polling of one’s enemies, so as to prevent inequity in what appears to be an offensive trait of the West. There is no representation of how our Muslim brethren in Iran feel about the “torturing” of their enemies, particularly when we in the West stand in strong repulsion to the notion of subjecting ourselves to even the slightest wind of “Sharia Law”. Had Iranian data been included in this study (using a Theocracy as example), an entirely different view might be unveiled and I suspect you would see a nearly “solid” orange bar justifying the most heinous of tortures.
We do ourselves a great injustice by only adjusting our prescriptions according to the Western Lens view of the world. The view from our “comfy” American armchair is often at complete juxtaposition to foreign realities. For example…..Never have I seen an American child, kick around the eviscerated head of a dead soldier, yet I have seen it done with the utmost “cheerfulness” and “exuberance” in the eyes of Somali, Iraqi, Palestinian and Iranian children. As disturbing as this is, one must give it it’s proper proportion in understanding the spectrum of human behavior.
Even Jesus, God’s perfection in the Flesh), ducked out of the crowd when He recognized the collective nature of Evil…..! Bearing this in mind, I believe the emphasis of the study runs amiss…..If I had to weep for every evil (torture being only one of many) I would dehydrate and die a young man. There will always be dark corners in this world…..expecting otherwise is to be “other-then-wise”.
Peace.
Just some thoughts of clarity.
I don’t necessarily agree with the conclusion drawn from these numbers. When we talk about Jesus and Christian Mystics, we are not talking about people who had a responsibility to protect the public from harm. Jesus did not take an oath to protect the citizens from anything. However, when we talk about our CIA, military and other government agencies who would be the ones to carry out torture, they are sworn to protect and serve. I think it is apples and oranges to discuss dealing with terrorists in the same breath as Christian Mystics. One of the benefits of being a Mystic is being “above the world” therefore, we can indulge in looking down on those who live there. I think that is not our purpose here — our purpose is not to find differences wherein we can revel in our moral superiority. We need to understand the humanness of every man. If I could garner information from a terrorist that would save thousands of innocent lives, yet I refused to use an unattractive means to gather that information and let those thousands be murdered, am I morally superior to the man who would use torture to save those lives? It’s not my sworn duty to save the lives of my fellow countryman. I don’t envy those who have the courage to swear that oath. I’m protected from having to make these difficult decisions — I can just sit back and meditate on light, staying out of the demands of the world. How fortunate to be so spiritual.