{"id":504,"date":"2009-04-22T11:48:02","date_gmt":"2009-04-22T11:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/04\/the-torture-memos-dick-chene.html"},"modified":"2009-04-22T11:48:02","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T11:48:02","slug":"the-torture-memos-dick-chene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/04\/the-torture-memos-dick-chene.html","title":{"rendered":"The Torture Memos – Dick Cheney vs. Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

When we get people who are more concerned about reading the
\nrights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States
\nagainst people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill
\nAmericans, then I worry…. These are evil people. And we’re not going to win
\nthis fight by turning the other cheek.
–Former Vice President Dick Cheney, February 4, 2009[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span>But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to
\nthose who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
\nIf someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone
\ntakes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who
\nasks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to
\nothers as you would have them do to you.
–Jesus,\u00a0Luke<\/span><\/a>\u00a06:27-31.
\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These two opposing statements by former Vice-President Dick Cheney and Jesus Christ bring into sharp relief the
\ncontradictions of being a country that simultaneously lays claim to Judeo
\nChristian values while going to any lengths to protect and preserve the
\nAmerican empire – including torture<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are compelling pragmatic questions that need to be
\nraised about torture such as the evidence that shows that torture is
\nineffective<\/a> in getting trustworthy information; and whether US torture practice has provided recruitment
\ntools for al Qaida and severely damaging our global reputation. But putting
\nthese questions aside – what does the practice of torture by our government say
\nabout those of us who are American Christians and our commitment to Jesus?<\/p>\n

Some of the great evangelists of the early church were the martyrs (Paul and Stephen being the main figures) who
\nwere themselves tortured, but continue to profess what they believe.\u00a0 <\/span>They never used violence or coercion to
\nspread the faith; rather people came to Jesus in part because of the
\nnon-violent Christian witness of the early members.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They were a strange crew these Christians who followed
\nthis even stranger Jesus who was himself tortured and killed and rose again.\u00a0 <\/span>They espoused love in the face of hate,
\ngenerosity in the face of theft, blessings for curses, and turning the cheek in
\nthe face of violence.\u00a0 <\/span>They did
\nthis not out of a sense of weakness, but out of strength.\u00a0 <\/span>They had been admitted into God’s royal spiritual kingdom and so they granted a certain noblesse
\noblige of love and peace to the violent material world around them.<\/p>\n

This changed when Constantine made Christianity the official
\nchurch of the Roman Empire and the church was co-opted.\u00a0\u00a0Members of the\u00a0<\/span>church began to use the violent techniques of force that had formerly been used against us – the Crusades and
\nthe Inquisition being two prime examples. George Bush and other professing
\nChristians succumbed to the temptation of perceived expediency to employ torture in
\norder to preserve national economic and security \u00a0interests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Dick Cheney says “these are evil people”
\nas a way to justify torture. But Christians have dealt with evil people before
\nand Jesus taught us explicitly that evil is never overcome by evil; it is over
\ncome by Good.\u00a0\u00a0Plus, Jesus’ final words in Luke 6 – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – have a chilling resonance when it comes to torture. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These torture documents do make me frustrated that our legal
\nsystem was subverted, and our national reputation damaged.\u00a0 <\/span>But mostly they make me fearful for our
\nnational soul. \u00a0Let us practice the time-honored tradition of confession and
\nrepentance.\u00a0 <\/span>The airing of these
\nmemos by President Obama is a good place to start, now let us continue to rid
\nourselves of this stain on our society and banish the barbaric and un-Christian practice of torture forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry…. These are evil people. 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Paul B. Raushenbush is the moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University. .An ordained American Baptist minister, Rev. Raushenbush speaks and preaches at colleges, churches and institutes around the country including the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., The Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York, and the New America Foundation. Rev. Raushenbush has served at Seattle First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Columbia University and as College and Young Adult Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City. He has appeared on ABC World News Tonight and is a repeated guest on CNN. He has been quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post and is a contributing editor for Beliefnet.com. His first book, Teen Spirit: One World, Many Faiths (HCI) was released in the Fall of 2004. He is the editor of the 100th Anniversary edition of Walter Rauschenbusch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s book Christianity and the Social Crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c In the 21st Century (HarperOne). His work at Princeton includes strengthening the interfaith community on campus. He is the Co-Director of the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations at The Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination at Princeton University. Rev. Raushenbush studied religion at Macalester College before attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he graduated with distinction.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/praushenbush"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}