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Welcome to Hell: Is torture always wrong?

Welcome to Hell: Is torture always wrong?

Last updated on: August 18, 2024 at 12:01 am by Rob Dalrymple

Welcome to Hell: Is torture always wrong? 2024-08-14T11:10:12-08:00 Rob Dalrymple

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Is it wrong to torture prisoners? (Yes) Does torture work? (No)

Lest there be any question: torture is immoral. As Christians, we should fundamentally oppose torture because it is dehumanizing and thereby undermines the divine image inherent within humanity. It dehumanizes both the victim and the perpetrator.

If we were to address Russia’s use of torture, I am confident that we would unquestionably condemn their actions and demand the international courts investigate.

Russia’s poisoning of Alexi Navalny, formerly Russia’s most famous dissident and Putin’s most ardent rival, who was exiled to a Siberian prison where he died—perhaps from exposure to the harsh Siberian elements—was prevalent on US news outlets and rightly condemned.

The use of torture is against international law. It is against US law.

Moreover, torture has been demonstrated to be ineffective. Instead of protecting a nation’s national security interests, it undermines it. The use of torture also jeopardizes our service men/women by subjecting them to reprisals.

But these points shouldn’t matter. Torture is inhumane.

Torture is understandable when we do it

But what happens when we do it? Should it not be equally condemned? Or does it become acceptable because we are the good that is trying to stamp out evil?

Thus, we either attempt to justify it:

“We have to get the information from these people somehow.”

“We have to teach these people a lesson.”

“They deserve it, especially after what they did to us.”

Or we look the other way.

Torturing of Palestinian “detainees”

We (Christian Forum on Israel-Palestine) recently interviewed Munther Amira, a Palestinian activist. Munther was “detained” by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and held in administrative detention.

NB: “Detention” is an Israeli practice in the West Bank and Gaza in which the IDF detains Palestinians and holds them in prison for up to 6 months without a charge of trial. Oftentimes, the six months is renewed.

Munther told his horrific story of torture and sexual abuse.

NB: his testimony contains graphic descriptions of his ordeal and is not suitable for children. Please use discretion.

Lest we come to believe that Munther’s experience was the exception rather than the rule, recent reports by numerous Israeli outlets have confirmed the systemic use of torture against Palestinian prisoners.

In Israel, Channel 12 news aired footage of soldiers sexually abusing prisoners (see Guardian article). Reports include blindfolding prisoners who were then sexually assaulted by guards.

Far-right protestors, including members of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), stormed the infamous Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel in order to protect the guards (at Sde Teiman, the guards are Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reservists—i.e., they are soldiers) from being interrogated claiming the guards were doing their duty.

Many of the leading officials in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have condemned the protestors and the efforts to hinder the investigation. The defense

Several members of the Knesset, including leading ministers, came to the defense of the soldiers. The far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referred to the protestors as “heroic warriors.” The radical National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demanded the release of the soldiers. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein called for hearings in the Knesset to discuss the arrests, claiming, “Our soldiers are not criminals, and this contemptible pursuit of our soldiers is unacceptable to me.”

NB: On Mon Aug 18, 2024, Determinetruth will host another livestream in our series on Israel-Gaza. Gary Burge will join us as we discuss the war on Gaza 10+ months after October 7.

Sadly, these are not isolated instances.

The title of this post, in fact, comes from a B’Tselem (an Israeli Human Rights Group) report on Israeli prisons. The subtitle adds The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.

In saying this, I do not intend to suppose that the Palestinians have not used terror against Israel. The point is to expose what the American media ignores and to increase the desire for a cease-fire.

But before we condemn Israel, we might need to look at ourselves. We must also speak against the US government’s use of torture.

US use of torture

In 2005, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled “Getting Away with Torture”, which chronicled the systemic use of torture under the Bush Administration.

NB: the PBS program Frontline published a documentary titled “Secrets, Politics, and Torture.”

When CIA Director George Tenet asked President Bush if had permission use torture, Bush responded, “damn right.”

The following is from the HRW report on the US use of torture. I quote the article at some length because I believe it is important that we become aware of the use of torture by the US.

“The Bush administration authorized coercive interrogation practices by the CIA and the military that amounted to torture, and instituted an illegal secret CIA detention program in which detainees were held in undisclosed locations without notifying their families, allowing access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, or providing for oversight of their treatment. Detainees were also unlawfully rendered (transferred) to countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, where they were likely to be tortured. Indeed, many were, including Canadian national Maher Arar who described repeated beatings with cables and electrical cords during the 10 months he was held in Syria, where the US sent him in 2002. Evidence suggests that torture in such cases was not a regrettable consequence of rendition; it may have been the purpose.”

“As a direct result of Bush administration decisions, detainees in US custody were beaten, thrown into walls, forced into small boxes, and waterboarded—subjected to mock executions in which they endured the sensation of drowning. Two alleged senior al Qaeda prisoners, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, were waterboarded 183 and 83 times respectively.”

“Detainees in US-run facilities in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay endured prolonged mistreatment, sometimes for weeks and even months. This included painful “stress” positions; prolonged nudity; sleep, food, and water deprivation; exposure to extreme cold or heat; and total darkness with loud music blaring for weeks at a time. Other abuses in Iraq included beatings, near suffocation, sexual abuse, and mock executions. At Guantanamo Bay, some detainees were forced to sit in their own excrement, and some were sexually humiliated by female interrogators. In Afghanistan, prisoners were chained to walls and shackled in a manner that made it impossible to lie down or sleep, with restraints that caused their hands and wrists to swell up or bruise.”

“They resulted from decisions of senior US leaders to bend, ignore, or cast rules aside.”

What is tragic about such reports is that no US official has been held accountable for the widespread use of torture. Sadly, the only arrest that has been made was of a whistleblower.

Why does this matter?

I fear that too many Christians, though rightly willing to condemn such heinous deeds when committed by our enemies, are too willing to ignore or even justify such acts when they are committed by our own officials.

Such acts are wrong. They undermine our national security. And the church should be at the forefront of condemning them.

When we fail to condemn evil, we fail to fulfill our mission. When we ignore evil, or worse yet, when we justify it because our nation is good, we fall prey to what the book of Revelation portrays as the Beast.

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General Christian

Politics and Religion

Israel; Gaza; War; propaganda; hermeneutics

Prision

Torture

About Rob Dalrymple

Rob Dalrymple is married to his wife Toni and is the father of four fabulous children, and two grandchildren. He has been teaching and pastoring for over 34 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD in biblical interpretation. He is the author of four books (including Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation & Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters) as well as numerous articles and other publications. His commentary on the book of Revelation titled, “Revelation: a Love Story” (Cascade Books, July 2024) has just been released. His new book, Land of Contention: Biblical Narratives and the Struggle for the Holy Land, should be out by the Fall of 2024. You can read more about the author here.

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