Friday, May 22, 2009

Perfect word for it

Evangelical Christians engaged in soul-searching over torture... Finding their souls? Not so much.

Instead, they're happy to cede their morality to the state:

Rev. Ronald Kuykendall, an evangelical pastor in Gainesville, Florida, says that the question is difficult to answer because everyone has a different of definition of torture. He says he would support the torture of a terrorist if "the techniques used are lawful, necessary" and the ultimate purpose is to save lives.
Torture? I don't even know what the word means, says Kuykendall. He's lying when he says that, of course. He has bought into the comforting evasion of moral responsibility of the Bushist torture policy.

5 comments:

S said...

Speaking of comforting moral evasion, if I hear the phrase "enhanced interrogation" one more time, I will scream. If you are comfortable with what the US did, you ought to be comfortable with using the word. It was torture. If you can't bring yourself to use the word, then perhaps you aren't really as comfortable with the practice as you would have people believe.

I thought it was the atheists, like me, who were supposed to have fuzzy morals?

Silence DoGood said...

Glad we have a change! Scorecard:

Bush on killer drones: love it
Bush on torture: love it
Bush on War: love it

Obama on killer drones: love it
Obama on torture: um, um, um
Obama on War: Hey, stop watching me!

lovable liberal said...

Look, SDG, try to stick to the topic. You want to blog the same thing every day, have at it.

lovable liberal said...

S, yes, it is head-snappingly weird to hear the patent evasions and euphemisms of the pro-torture crowd, but then add their professions of Christianity alongside their frequent claims that morality can only be rooted in god, and what they say and think seems like empty incantations devoid of meaning, much less morality.

globeisatrocious said...

Score card is incomplete:
Patriot Act: love it
wiretaps: love em
email intercepts: love em
renditions: love em
military tribunal: love em
all troops gone from Iraq by March 2008.

and you want euphemisms? How 'bout:
”overseas contingency operation”
“man-made catastrophes”