Pro-Life & Anti-Torture

“Unfathomable news!” were the exact words a secular acquaintance of mine used when he read the survey results that church-goers were more willing to support the use of torture than did non-church goers

The national survey conducted by Pew Research found that 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe “the use of torture against suspected terrorists to gain important information” to be often or sometimes justified. In fact the more frequently a person attended church the more likely they were to endorse the use of torture on terrorist suspects.

Carl Nelson

I believe the results of the survey. Unfortunately it points specifically at evangelicals – who have some of the highest church-attendance rates – and I know enough evangelicals to realize that many of them are quite willing to use torture on terrorists.

The problem is that torture contradicts our belief about the sanctity of human life.

Evangelicals-like Catholics-have based our tireless campaign to end abortion and embryonic stem cell destruction on the fundamental belief that human life is created in the image of God, and that all human life is sacred. When God said “Let us make human beings in our image,” we take that to mean that all human life in some mysterious way bears the mark of God upon our very being. To defile human life-whether through abortion, scientific manipulation or torture-becomes an offense against God.

Not only is every human life sacred, but the teachings of Jesus instruct us to have special care and concern for the vulnerable-the unborn, the poor, prisoners of war-even if they are our enemy.

I believe in a strong and rigorous defense against terrorists, and I support our country’s efforts to dismantle terrorist networks, but we still must uphold our values and defend ourselves virtuously. And those Christians who are the most observant of our faith should also be the ones who are most outspoken about acting morally and virtuously-even in war.

It’s sad when people outside the church call it “unfathomable news” when they read that a majority of church-going Christians support the use of torture.

We need to reconsider our beliefs and base them upon a consistent ethic of life. We are very good at defending prenatal life, but I predict that we will make very little progress in gaining public support on that front until evangelicals demonstrate a consistent ethic of life, from womb to tomb, and one that preserves the sanctity of life even when the subject is an evil terrorist upon whom our old sin nature wants to exact revenge.

Last summer I added my name to the National Religious Campaign to Ban Torture, and later participated in a speaking event with the Center for Victims of Torture to explain why an evangelical who honors the sanctity of life opposes the use of torture.

Read about the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture at www.evangelicalsforhumanrights.org and join the Religious Campaign to Ban Torture. In June I’ve been invited again by the Center for Victims of Torture to share an evangelical perspective on banning the use of torture at an event in Minneapolis.

I invite others to join me because we need to change public perception and influence the beliefs of others sitting beside us in the pew.