5 Reasons Torture is always Wrong

"The word "torture," tellingly, comes from the Latin torquere, to twist. Stine Amris and Julio G. Arenas, who have done extensive studies on the effects of torture, define it as "the infliction of severe pain (whether physical or psychological) by a perpetrator who acts purposefully and on behalf of the state"."

"The debate in our nation today concerns what measures can legitimately be taken to extract information from prisoners held by us in the "war on terror" and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As such, it is a debate about the proper use of government power in a liberal democracy. Can that power ever rightly extend to the use of any form of torture?"

This article from Christianity Today addresses the torture issue and speaks directly to fellow Christians. It begins with an overview of the debate, then proceeds to give its' 5 reasons as to why it's wrong, period.

We have today, a very vocal segment that proclaims the U.S. to be a Christian nation, yet follows, and accepts, the teachings of some very un-Christian political and religious leaders who claim to speak to and receive guidance from God. What puzzles me is why so many who claim Jesus as their savior, willingly accept practices that they should know, Christ would never allow. This goes beyond ignorance of biblical teaching, since the bible is accessable to everyone in this country. These aren't the days of early Christianity when the faithful had to take the word of their leaders for what the bible said, back before the printing press and learning to read. What puzzles me is why these people make big points about how they believe that Islam is a murderous religion, without acknowledging all the death, destruction, slavery, and wars that were initiated by the zealous Christian over the millenniums. Of course, I'm not really puzzled, I know hypocrites when I smell them.

This article tries to explain particularly to Christians why toture is wrong. I wouldn't think, that in a nation that claims itself to be so close to God, followers would need to be shown how wrong it is. Simply looking at Christs' life, should be enough to see that torturing, war mongering, wishing death on others, and generally being hateful, violates everything He stood for, and anyone who advocates it in His name, violates Him as well, and should not be followed.