Red State: Jesus Would Have Approved Waterboarding

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More pearls of wisdom from that bastion of politicized Christianist exceptionalism:

It’s likely even Jesus would have OK’d water boarding if it would have saved his Mom. He would’ve done the same to save his Dad, or any one of His disciples. For that matter, He even died to save all humans.

It’s obvious He would not be happy with those who voted for the candidate who kills because it’s above his “pay grade” to know if they’re alive. Checking the Commandments, killing innocents is against the 5th. Because pro-aborts don’t know for sure life does not exist at conception, they are still willing to risk that it’s not killing.

(h/t John Cole)

So, Jesus wouldn't be cool with killing babies in the womb but he'd be fine with torturing people? Yep, nothing says "Christ's love" like strapping a guy to a bench and drowning him to extract information.

This reminds me of a couple of things I've blogged about before. The first is the poll that came out a few weeks ago that revealed that a majority of regular church-goers approve of the use of torture:

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

There was also this gem of a quote from Christian Right leader Jack Gary Bauer:

There are a lot of things Jesus wouldn’t do because he’s the son of God. I can’t imagine Jesus being a Marine or a policeman or a bank president, for that matter. The more appropriate question is, ‘What is a follower of Jesus permitted to do?’

I think if we believe the person we have can give us information to stop thousands of Americans from being killed, it would be morally suspect to not use harsh tactics to get that information.

It's pretty sad that the Christian Right in this country has been politicized to the point that, in defense of their preferred political ideology, they have been reduced to claiming that Jesus' supposedly loving message of peace and caring for your fellow man has been perverted to justify torture.

Say what you will about torture and Christianity, only the most extreme reading of the Gospels imaginable could, at the same time, claim that Jesus preached both a message of love and a message that could justify torture.

Perhaps the most important Bible passage for this debate is this:

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Update: To be fair, there are some religious people out there that are not completely insane on this issue:

Since January 2006, the more than 250 religious organizations comprising the National Religious Campaign Against Torture have worked together to end U.S.-sponsored torture. During 2008, the religious community advocated for a Presidential Executive Order ending torture. It happened. On January 22, President Obama issued an Executive Order halting torture.

Now the task is to make sure that U.S.-sponsored torture never happens again. To accomplish this goal, our nation needs to put safeguards in place to prevent its recurrence. We will better understand what safeguards are needed if we have a comprehensive understanding of what happened – who was tortured, why they were tortured, and who ordered the torture. As a nation we need the answers to those questions.

Therefore, NRCAT is calling for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S. torture policies and practices. To bolster this call, we are asking you and other people of faith to endorse the statement "U.S.-Sponsored Torture: A Call for a Commission of Inquiry."

h/t Digby