Is Torture OK If You Do It for Jesus?

Reese Witherspoon isn't afraid to use force when necessary, especially when she needs to get an important confession.

This is the actual line from the film. But which film?

Sure we have all put guns to people's heads to get them to convert to our religion. It has been the Christian way since Constantine. One might delude oneself into thinking that Christianity has become a tad more noble.

Not so. To waterboard or not to waterboard has become a topic of debate among people who claim to follow Jesus. Doug King at Witherspoon reported last month on the Conference of Terror, Torture, and Security and Presbtyerian Outlook picked it up yesterday.

The conference addressed this question:

Is torture always wrong, or are there situations that may make it necessary? And how might followers of Jesus best deal with this question?

The purpose of this conference was to actually work through questions of torture. Frankly, I can't believe we are even discussing this. I am not talking about the conference, but the fact that we have to have such a conference.

The real question is this: How far down will we allow our political leaders to take us in this supposed war on terror? How much more violence and evil will we excuse, justify, and even promote out of fear? Will we allow them to extinguish the last spark of our humanity? Will spiritual leaders find the courage to speak out?

The Witherspoon Society has spoken clearly against torture. Even our icon, Reese Witherspoon, made a movie about it. It is time to

Say No2Torture and to
Read, Learn, Resist



Oh, and Reese sez,

"Thanks Doug, for linking to my favorite blogger, Shuck and Jive!