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Where Are Evangelicals Against Torture?
...While there has been no specific statement on the most recent developments, the liberal Protestant National Council of churches has had pretty consistent denunciations of torture over the past few years, including a condemnation of the Abu Ghraib abuses last year.

The Council on American Islamic Relations was part of a coalition that earlier this year condemned torture and "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment."

At least two coalitions of rabbis have issued declarations that torture is repugnant, not surprising given Jewish experiences at the hands of the Nazis.

For an unequivocal condemnation of torture, it's hard to beat the late John Paul II, who said in his encyclical "Veritatis Splendor" that it can never be justified, no matter what the reason. The pope placed it on the moral level of abortion and euthanasia. U.S. bishops have followed that lead. Who does that leave? Evangelical Christians. I've done a couple of Google searches, plus a search of the excellent Christianity Today Web log, and I can't find one statement by any evangelical leader or organization condemning the use of harsh techniques by American forces. Where are the voices -- so otherwise outspoken on policy matters -- from the National Association of Evangelicals, from the Family Research Council, from the Southern Baptist Convention?

It gets worse. One thing that did turn up in Christianity Today was a portion of an article last year by Tony Carnes that found evangelical complicity among both administration and military personnel justifying the kind of treatment uncovered at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

Carnes wrote: "(E)vangelicals were significantly involved in drafting policy memos that created the permissive climate in which the abuse of prisoners occurred. Asking not to be named, Christians who serve in federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies told Christianity Today that aggressive interrogation of suspected terrorists was no-holds-barred."

I write as a Christian to say that this is beyond scandalous. It is willing participation in evil by Christians, otherwise known as sin. It is a return to the Dark Ages, to the Inquisition. It's a short step from "no-holds-barred" to the auto da fe, the "act of faith" in which the rebellious were burned at the stake.

You would think that after evangelical fervor for "The Passion of the Christ" last year, they would have learned something about what torture looks like. Apparently when it's done to Christ by Romans, it's one thing, but another when done by Americans to Muslims.

Perhaps evangelicals should ask Jesus his views on that, and when they get an answer, let them push it on their close friends in the administration with as much zeal as they've used in the push for a Supreme Court nominee. Dick Cheney certainly needs a Sunday school lesson from someone.