The USCCB writes about the Torture Report

Last updated on: December 9, 2014 at 1:20 pm by Mark Shea

The USCCB writes about the Torture Report 2014-12-09T13:20:51-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I know you may have seen the news about the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report, but I want to flag for you one element of this story that does not always receive significant attention – the role that the American faith community, including many prominent Catholic leaders, has played in demanding the release of this report and urging a permanent end to U.S. sponsored torture. Below is a series of statements from American faith leaders compiled as a part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s ongoing work to mobilize the faith community, additional statements from faith leaders can be found here: www.nrcat.org/TortureReport-Quotes.

As Bishop Oscar Cantú chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said: “The Catholic Church firmly believes that torture is an ‘intrinsic evil’ that cannot be justified under any circumstance. The acts of torture described in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong.”

Here’s the thing. When it came to torture, despite the massive pretenses deployed for years and years and years by “prolife” “conservatives” saying ““Who will ascend into heaven to find out if torture is wrong?” and “Who will descend into the abyss to help us penetrate the utter mystery of what O what torture is?” the fact was *always*, “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” This was never ever hard. The US Bishops and the pope were super clear on this. It’s just that torture defenders were bound and determined not to listen and to fill with air with lies in justification of what they knew in their hearts to be a grave intrinsic evil.

And the way they did it in part was (among many other strategies) to blow ideological dog whistles whenever some bishop with a vaguely foreign sounding name like “Cantu” and a Pavlovian stimulus phrase like “Justice and Peace” were linked with condemnations of it. Everybody knows that’s not *real* Catholic stuff like “faithful conservative prolife Catholics” believe. So feel free to ignore it.

Even if the Church does, in fact, teach that torture is a mortal sin and that defending it is direct cooperation in that sin. Because that’s all prudential judgment stuff. And, for the Thing That Used to be Conservative Catholicism, prudential judgment does not mean “How can we best obey the Church?” but “feel free to disobey the Church if it conflicts with your politics, even if doing so means defending mortal sin.”

Uncategorized

Torture is Evil

Previous Post

December 9, 2014

The Torture Report and Fear of Retaliation

Next Post

December 9, 2014 Two of the central lies of Torture Apologetics are now buried with stakes through their hearts

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz