Paying Attention to Other People's PainBy Marilyn Chandler McEntyre
I write on this unsavory subject because the evidence is now so compelling that torture is being carried out in our name, by our government, and by other countries acting on behalf of our government. Those of us who consider ourselves people of faith are faced with a dilemma. If we won't speak out against torture, what will we ever speak out about? If we choose not to look at evidence that our government is involved, what else might we be willing to overlook? Even if we consider reports of torture to be mere allegations, what could possibly merit serious independent investigation and accountability more than this? If "blessed
are the merciful" has any moral force, it must be invoked against
those practices that should not be carried out on any human being for
any reason, anywhere, ever. Every culture in the world preaches some version
of the "Golden Rule," and every culture with a claim to being
"civilized" supports humane limits on treatment of prisoners.
Torture is a violation of our most fundamental sense of common humanity.
If we're willing to abandon standards of humane treatment, we endanger
not only those we don't know (and so somehow find it easier not to care
about), but also those we love. Torture is not a partisan issue. It's a matter of life and death not only to the victims, but in a very real sense to the body politic and the humane social order to which we belong. The macho cry of "No Mercy" may give a kind of grim satisfaction, but the mandate to "love mercy" (Micah 6) and the proclamation, "Blessed are the merciful" (Matthew 5), call us to a higher spiritual point of view that serves the common good at the deepest level. If you share my concern I invite you to participate in National Religious Campaign Against Torture (see mission statement at www.nrcat.org). To those who remain unconvinced that torture of the dimensions of Abu Ghraib and worse is being widely practiced in our name, I would suggest perusal of any of the websites listed with the online version of this article at progressivewritersbloc.com. Visit us at ProgressiveWritersBloc.com. Relevant websites Amnesty
International: www.amnestyusa.org |
Contact
Information
Website designed
by DavidChandler
At
last count, Amnesty International reported that torture is being practiced
in over 150 countries. This is an issue most of us have the luxury of
ignoring most of the time. But like arteries slowly hardening, torture,
even when hidden, eats away at our spiritual and political health. It
takes energy to maintain denial. We have to work harder and harder to
ignore what's happening. We have to avert our gaze, cope with rising guilt
and drug ourselves with distractions to avoid thinking about the fact
that with every breath we draw, someone is being smothered; as we dive
into sanitary swimming pools, someone is being brought to the brink of
drowning by "water-boarding"; as we relax in bed, someone is
being forced into "stress positions" that strain every muscle
to the screaming point; as we pull up the quilt at night, someone is being
forced to stand naked in freezing temperatures.