In How Should We Treat Detainees?—a runner-up for WORLD’s 2016 Book of the Year in the Understanding America category—J. Porter Harlow offers a convincing and convicting brief against the U.S. armed forces’ use of torture. Citing the experience of King Hezekiah, Harlow argues that “Christian leaders should take righteous actions to fight wars and terrorism while rejecting evil and while hoping that the Lord may choose to bless their righteous and just actions with effectiveness.” Harlow opposes waterboarding, as well as the use of torture even in “ticking time bomb” situations, calling them “oversimplified intellectual fraud.” In the excerpt below, courtesy of P&R Publishing, Harlow discusses how our Christian witness is at stake when evangelicals support the use of torture on detainees captured in the war on terrorism. —Marvin Olasky

Chapter 7: Thoughts about a City on a Hill

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.1

The Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life determined in 2009 that white evangelical Christians in the United States were in favor of “the use of torture against suspected terrorists” more than any other religious group.2 It determined that 62% of white evangelicals would agree that torture “can often” or “can sometimes be justified” while only 51% of white Roman Catholics would, 46% of white mainline Protestants would, and only 40% of the religiously unaffiliated would.3 When adding those who believe that torture “can rarely be justified,” the survey determined that 8 in 10 white evangelicals could justify torture in some circumstance.4 After the survey was released, a news item in the Washington Post observed that the internet became a forum for many to accuse evangelicals of “forsaking the love-thine-enemy doctrine of Christianity.”5 This and other examples of a public backlash against evangelical Christians caused Pew to re-analyze the survey, and it concluded that political party affiliation had an even more distinct affect on a person’s ability to justify torture than religious affiliation. It found 64% of Republicans would agree that torture can often or sometimes be justified while only 36% of Democrats would.6 The researchers at Pew stated, “Party and ideology are much better predictors of views on torture than are religion and most other demographic factors.”7

Considering the Pew survey and the many Christian leaders who have provided arguments in favor of torture,8 provided theological legitimacy for dirty hands,9 or Scriptural legitimacy for clean hands that inflict pain,10 this book concludes that evangelical Christians have been shaped more by politics,11 utilitarian modes of reasoning,12 Christian realism,13 and other patterns of this world than by the transforming and renewing of their mind14 that comes from wrestling with God’s word to discern the character of God and what he finds good and acceptable and perfect.15 Al Mohler’s 2500 word defense of Christians with dirty hands16 does not provide a single Scriptural citation. Wayne Grudem’s eight page discussion of the “Coercive Interrogation of Prisoners”17 only dedicates 2 of the 37 paragraphs to an examination of Scripture in a book titled, Politics According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture.

This book concludes that the minds and hearts of evangelical political leaders, military service members, seminary professors, pastors, and church members were not prepared to recognize and honor the imago Dei in the detainees captured during the global war on terrorism.18 This is evident in chapter 1, which documented the U.S. Government’s official use of (1) pain and physical abuse, (2) sexual exploitation, (3) religious exploitation, (4) extreme sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, and isolation to the point it assaulted a detainees ability to reason, and (5) the treatment of detainees like animals. This book has argued that wrestling with Scripture on the treatment of prisoners during war should lead Christians to reject those interrogation techniques because they violate the biblical jus in bello principles of discrimination and proportionality.

This book also argued in chapter 5 that Christians should reject the dirty hands scenario as an intellectual fraud and hold on to political and theological positions that prohibit purposefully planning to sin while consciously accepting the sinfulness of the action.20

On almost every issue not involving national security, evangelicals have a strong record of wrestling with Scripture and faithfully applying it to their lives.

On almost every issue not involving national security, evangelicals have a strong record of wrestling with Scripture and faithfully applying it to their lives. Evangelicals have wrestled with the 24 verses in Psalm 13921 and come to recognize the Imago Dei in the unborn child. The public record provides ample evidence that evangelicals have acted on those convictions and become strong advocates for the unborn children in their communities. This book concludes that evangelical preachers, teachers and church members should consider the U.S. treatment of detainees and then wrestle with Christ’s teaching on neighbor-love,22 enemy-love23 and prisoner-love24 as well as the Old Testament’s teaching on love for the powerless in our society.25 Pastors should preach and teachers should teach on the Imago Dei. Otherwise, evangelicals will be even more unprepared for the next war since the philosophical and theological support for the abuse of detainees and terrorists has largely gone unanswered in evangelical circles.

The Republican nominees for President in 2012 and 2016 have campaigned to allow waterboarding to remain a tool that is available for use during interrogations. That was the position of Mitt Romney in 2012.26 And that was the position of Donald Trump in 2016, who has advocated for interrogations that are more aggressive than waterboarding. Trump has made the following statements about the treatment of terrorists:

Unless evangelical Christians who oppose waterboarding speak out and publish their opinions, then there will be no evidence that the evangelical church opposed waterboarding. The unfortunate result may be that when Christians consider the use of waterboarding or even torture in the future, and they look back into history for the position of the church when such techniques were used during the wars against terrorism at the beginning of the twenty-first century, they may decide to employ such techniques under the belief that they are scripturally and theologically sound.

What is really at stake is whether the evangelical church will be a city on a hill. American Presidents from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan have invoked the city on a hill as an example of what America should be. This parable of Jesus30 first came to America in a sermon written by Puritan John Winthrop aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean.31 In the sermon, Winthrop uses the parable not as an ideal to strive for but as a warning to the church that their witness for Christ was at stake. As they sailed to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Winthrop warned them that “the eyes of all people are upon us” to see if their new community will be one that does justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with their God.32 Will they be a community of brotherly affection, meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality?33 If so, then Winthrop believed that God would “dwell among us, as his [own] people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways.”34 If they failed, then Winthrop expected that they would cause the mouths of God’s enemies to speak evil of God’s ways and his people.35 They would “shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants.”36 And Winthrop believed that God would withdraw his help from them, causing their community to become a by-word for the world.37

Wayne Grudem believes that being on the “high moral ground” of “world opinion” is not a worthy desire if the U.S. is viewed as “pampering captured terrorists.”38 Grudem believes that the enemies of the United States do not respect “timidity and weakness, but courage and superior strength.” This book argues that inflicting “significant pain”39 on detainees is not a sign of courage. There is no courage in taking a shackled, defenseless prisoner and slapping him,40 knocking him into a wall,41 or convincing him that severely painful consequences and death are imminent for him and his family if he does not answer the interrogator’s questions.42 People show courage on the battlefield—not in the interrogation room. People show courage through actions that exhibit self-sacrifice for the good of others not in the sacrifice of others for the good of self. It is startling to compare what Grudem values about today’s America to those values Winthrop hoped for in a nascent America. Winthrop’s sermon expresses fears about how Christians in America will act before the eyes of God while Grudem’s discussion of interrogation fears how Americans will be perceived before the eyes of their enemies.

Unlike Winthrop, many evangelicals fail to appreciate that their witness for Christ is at stake in their support for detainee abuse. Many Americans believe that the evangelical characterization of terrorists as an “exception”43 to the prohibition on torture or abuse is a utilitarian rationale that is inconsistent with evangelical positions on abortion, which tend to be deontological. Many Americans have charged that this exception is one of convenience seeking either security or seeking to defend the position of the evangelical president’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques. Chuck Colson fell prey to such charges in 2007.

Many evangelicals fail to appreciate that their witness for Christ is at stake in their support for detainee abuse.

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, was participating on a panel of religious leaders discussing torture when he wrote that there is an exception to the Christian understanding of human dignity for torture that “might save the lives of thousands.”44 Colson, the man who popularized the concept of having a biblical worldview with his 2004 book How Now Shall We Live, cited no Scripture but invoked the Greek philosophical concept of prudence, referenced the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, and compared the torture of prisoners to a person trespassing to rescue a drowning person.45 Colson’s comments produced an immediate response on the internet that lasted for years.46 One commenter on the Washington Post’s website wrote, “Chuck, I see not much has changed from the Watergate days when protecting the president required moral relativism.”47 The point of most critics was that evangelicals, who tend to be deontological, created an exception for political reasons and not Scriptural reasons.

This book concludes by hoping that evangelicals will wrestle with Scripture and strive to be that city on a hill. This book hopes that national leaders will follow the example of King Hezekiah instead of King Ahaz. King Hezekiah prepared for war and then trusted in the Lord to deliver him and his people. God honored Hezekiah’s faithfulness and delivered his people. King Hezekiah offers a model of faithful leadership for Christian leaders to follow. Christian leaders should seek God’s counsel by wrestling with his word and then trusting him to bless their righteous warfare.

Taken from How Should We Treat Detainees? by J. Porter Harlow ISBN 9781629952888. Chapter seven used with permission from P&R Publishing Co. P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865; www.prpbooks.com.

ENDNOTES ______________

1. Matt. 5:14–16.

2. Pew Research, “The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate,” Religion & Public Life Project, Apr. 29, 2009, http://www.pewforum.org/2009/04/29/the-religious-dimensions-of-the-torture-debate/.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. “God in Government,” Washington Post, May 9, 2009, Religion & Public Life Project, May 7, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/08/AR2009050803590.html.

6. Pew Research, “The Torture Debate: A Closer Look,” Religion & Public Life Project, May7, 2009, http://www.pewforum.org/2009/05/07/the-torture-debate-a-closer-look/.

7. Ibid.

8. Chuck Colson, “Justified under Some Circumstances,” Faith Street, Nov. 9, 2007, https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2007/11/09/justified-under-some-circumsta/2968; Cal Thomas, “Torturing Ourselves to Death,” Faith Street, Nov. 13, 2007, https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2007/11/13/torturing-ourselves-to-death/1091.

9. R. Albert Mohler, “Albert Mohler on Torture,” First Things (Jan. 6, 2010), http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/01/albert-mohler-on-torture; Eric Patterson, Just War Thinking: Morality and Pragmatism in the Struggle against Contemporary Threats (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007), 66; Jean Bethke Elshtain, “Reflections on the Problem of ‘Dirty Hands,’” in Torture: A Collection, ed. Sanford Levinson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 83.

10. Wayne Grudem, Politics According to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 430; John Jefferson Davis, “John Jefferson Davis on Torture,” First Things (Jan 10, 2010), http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/01/john-jefferson-davis-on-torture.

11. Pew Research, “The Torture Debate: A Closer Look.”

12. Michael Walzer, “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands,” in Torture: A Collection, ed. Sanford Levinson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 61–62; Elshtain, “Reflection on the Problem of Dirty Hands,” 78–79.

13. Mohler, “Albert Mohler on Torture.”

14. Rom. 12:12.

15. Rom. 12:2.

16. Mohler, “Albert Mohler on Torture.”

17. Grudem, Politics According to the Bible, 425.

18. Daryl Charles has argued that evangelicals were unprepared to provide ethically thoughtful responses to general just war questions raised by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. He believes that this is due the unformed conscience of evangelicalism. Charles argues that the evangelical church has failed to articulate a rationale for a social ethic on perennial issues of public policy that is informed by Scripture and the tradition of the Church. He thinks that evangelicals are effective at personal moral formation due to an appropriate emphasis on personal salvation and preparing for life in the eternal city, but that evangelicals are neglecting to redeem the current “city” that they live in. Charles looks to the books in Christian bookstores (e.g., novels about the end times, Christian romance novels, and books teaching Christians to unlock God’s blessings for them) and concludes that American evangelicals are focused on themselves and the church to the exclusion of all the other buildings on the public square. J. Daryl Charles, Between Pacifism and Jihad: Just War and Christian Tradition (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 2, 11, 173.

19. Luke 10:25–37; Matt. 5:43–48; Matt. 25:31–46.

20. Rom. 6:1–14.

21. Ps. 139.

22. Luke 10:25–37.

23. Matt. 5:43–45.

24. Matt. 25:31–46.

25. Ex. 22:21–23.

26. Charlie Savage, “Election to Decide Future Interrogation Methods in Terrorism Cases,” New York Times (Sept. 27, 2012), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/us/politics/election-will-decide-future-of-interrogation-methods-for-terrorism-suspects.html.

27. “Ted Cruz, Donald Trump Advocate Bringing Back Waterboarding,” video, 3:48, from the Republican Presidential debate televised by abcnews.com on Feb. 6, 2016, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/ted-cruz-donald-trump-advocate-bringing-back-waterboarding-36764410.

28. “Trump: Waterboarding not tough enough,” video, 1:24, from a campaign speech televised by CNN on June 29, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/06/29/trump-waterboarding-not-tough-enough-sot.cnn.

29. Jeremy Diamond, “Trump on Torture: ‘We have to beat the savages’” CNN, March 6, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/06/politics/donald-trump-torture/.

30. Matt. 5:14–16: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

31. John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” The Winthrop Society (1630), http://winthropsociety.com/doc_charity.php.

32. Ibid.

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid.

38. Grudem, Politics According to the Bible, 429.

39. Ibid., 430.

40. Steven G. Bradbury, Memo “Application of United States Obligations Under Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques that May Be Used in the Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees” (May 30, 2005): 7, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/torture_archive/docs/Bradbury%20memo.pdf.

41. Ibid.

42. Major General Michael Dunlavey, “Counter-Resistance Strategies” (Oct. 11, 2002), http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/torturingdemocracy/documents/20021011.pdf.

43. Grudem, Politics According to the Bible, 427–28.

44. Colson, “Justified Under Some Circumstances.”

45. Ibid.

46. John Blake discussed Colson’s comments in his article on CNN. John Blake, “Torturing prompts soul-searching among Christians,” CNN, May 22, 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/22/torture.christian/.

47. Colson, “Justified Under Some Circumstances.”