Thinking biblically about torture

Lately, a few explosive issues have divided some Christians from their usual co-belligerents on the political right. There have been complaints from the African-American community about the way they’re treated by law enforcement. And then just this week, a 500-page report from the Senate Intelligence Committee said the CIA exceeded its authority in interrogating al-Qaeda prisoners.

“The conclusion that the president reached is a principle that people on both sides of this debate can agree to, which is that the moral authority of the United States of America is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal to protect and advance U.S. interests around the globe,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

For once, John Stonestreet of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview and I both agreed with the president and acknowledged this is an unusual time when those on the political right don’t necessarily line up with Christian values.

“My issue with torture, whenever we see it, is the same issue I have with any violation of essential human dignity. We can’t go there,” Stonestreet said. “We are not first and foremost responsible for what works. We’re first and foremost responsible to what’s correct and what’s right.” He expressed disappointment that some conservative Christians had responded to the CIA report by basically saying if torture works, it’s OK.

“We can’t just line up on the political side of things,” Stonestreet said. “We’re first and foremost responsible to God.”

Christians can still apply pragmatism to situations of moral complexity. Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid evil, and “we have to really muddle on and do the best we can possibly do,” Stonestreet said. But the debate should always be about the best way to protect the principle of inherent human dignity, not about the principle itself.

“We can’t be pragmatic about human dignity. We can be pragmatic about what’s the best way to live out human dignity,” he said.

In short, Christians must be careful not to let our politics take first place in our lives.

Listen to my complete conversation with John Stonestreet during “Culture Friday” on The World and Everything in It: