Trump calls for torture, says it works

Last updated on: January 26, 2017 at 12:17 am by Mark Shea

Trump calls for torture, says it works 2017-01-25T20:52:54-07:00 Mark Shea

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…argues we have to fight fire with fire.

This is as clear a moral choice as Catholic Trump supporters could face. He doesn’t even use the bogus euphemism “enhanced interrogation.” We’re talking torture.

The Church is extremely clear:

Reason attests that there are objects of the human act which are by their nature “incapable of being ordered” to God, because they radically contradict the good of the person made in his image. These are the acts which, in the Church’s moral tradition, have been termed “intrinsically evil” (intrinsece malum): they are such always and per se, in other words, on account of their very object, and quite apart from the ulterior intentions of the one acting and the circumstances. Consequently, without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that “there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object”.131 The Second Vatican Council itself, in discussing the respect due to the human person, gives a number of examples of such acts: “Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honour due to the Creator”.132

And since Trump himself makes clear that we are talking about torture, we can dispense with the customary attempts to pretend he means something else. He means torture. And we can assume he means “a helluva lot worse” than waterboarding if he gets his way–which, you know, he will since he’s President.

And, just in case Catholic apologists for torture are still somehow unclear on the concept, here’s Pope Benedict XVI:

“Public authorities must be ever vigilant in this task, eschewing any means of punishment or correction that either undermine or debase the human dignity of prisoners. In this regard, I reiterate that the prohibition against torture cannot be contravened under any circumstances.” (Message to 12th World Congress of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care)

What it comes down to is this extremely simple fact that Catholic Trump supporters *must* confront head on: The President of the United States wants to order our sons and daughters to commit what both US law *and* international law defines as a war crime. More than this, he wants to order our sons and daughters to commit what the Catholic Church clearly defines as gravely and intrinsically immoral–a sin worthy of the everlasting fires of hell. If you are having trouble wrapping your mind around the gravity of what he wants to do or are telling yourself that it’s okay because anything is legitimate to keep your skin safe, then realize that, in the eyes of God, you are consenting to an evil just as grave as abortion. Indeed, realize what Soviet, Chinese, and Korean torture states figured out a very long time ago: if you’ve already decided (as Dick Cheney did) that it’s okay if some innocents get tortured and killed to keep your skin safe, then you have erased any reason not to torture and kill the pregnant wives and children of your suspected terrorist. You are consenting, in the end, to abortion.

And soon, there will be no reason for police right here at home not to use it against citizens. Trump and his ilk will soon make the case Uncle Billy makes in It’s a Wonderful Life: Not every heel, they will say, is in Mosul and Baghdad. So why not torture Americans who are suspected of something or other? And if we are wrong, well you have to break some eggs to make and omelet.

But, of course, even if the victim is guilty as sin, the Church says that torture is gravely immoral and those who commit (or assist) it are still worthy of the everlasting fires of hell.

So the question now is, “Now that Trump really is advocating a policy every bit as damnable as legal abortion, will prolife Catholic Trump supporters at long last speak out against it and against him? Or will they excuse and defend it and him? How deeply in the tank are they?”

This is a really crucial moment for the witness of the Church in the United States and I pray with all my heart that Trump supporters will obey God and not man.

Say NO to torture. Shout it from the rooftops. For Christ’s sake and for the honor of his Holy Name do NOT consent to this evil. God is watching. God will remember. And the Day approaches when God will Judge with justice what we do.

Blessed Mother, pray for us that we do what is pleasing to your Son, who was tortured to death for our sake.

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