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Behind the News

More than a week after the news broke on the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, Christianity Today's Weblog set out to gauge the Christian reaction. Their findings? Pretty disappointing. Few high-visibility American Christians were speaking out against the abuses, and even these diverged along different paths. While Sojourners magazine demanded the resignation of Rumsfeld for allowing such war crimes to continue under his command, World magazine was quick to defend Rumsfeld, labeling these actions the "perverse acts of a few." Other leaders, such as Chuck Colson and Gary Bauer called for the vindication of America's military through the swift punishment of the "bad apples" involved.

Now it's become clear that at least one of these infamous "bad apples" was apparently a Christian. Spec. John Darby, the soldier who reportedly confronted Spec. Charles A. Graner, the ringleader of Abu Ghraib, claims that Graner told him, "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the correction officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.' " Other accounts suggest that guards abused prisoners out of hostility toward Islam—one soldier reportedly asked a prisoner if he believed in anything, and when the man responded that he believed in Allah, the guard replied, "I believe in torture, and I will torture you."

For anyone sensitive to Muslim-Christian relations, this is a catastrophe. Dr. Akbar Ahmed of the American University noted Osama bin Laden couldn't have dreamed up a better recruiting advertisement than the photo of Lynndie England, Spec. Graner's lover, dragging a prisoner around by a chain. Any Islamic militant wishing to connect Christianity with the decadence of America—many Muslims overseas continue to call America a "Christian" country—would appear to have a smoking gun. And the Qu'ran has some harsh words for those who "fight against God and His Messenger"—"they shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall alternately be struck off, or they shall be banished from the land … (Sura 5:37)."

All the more reason for a cogent Christian response to what transpired at Abu Ghraib. But what exactly should that look like? Let's look at the writings of Christians past for some answers.

What Would Augustine Say?

The New Testament and the ante-Nicene fathers give Christians no direct guidance on treating prisoners of war. Before Constantine, Christians weren't really in a position to make such decisions.

It's not until after Constantine that theologians and church leaders begin to offer some answers. Famous for his just war theory, Augustine of Hippo was perhaps the first to articulate how Christians should treat their enemies on the battleground:

"Those whom we have to punish with a kindly severity, it is necessary to handle in many ways against their will. For when we are stripping a man of the lawlessness of sin, it is good for him to be vanquished, since nothing is more hopeless than the happiness of sinners, whence arises a guilty impunity, and an evil will, like an internal enemy." (Ep. Ad Marcellin. cxxxviii)

This doesn't directly address prisoners of war. But when we read Augustine's discussion of the Christian's purpose in war, we get some hints:

"We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace." (Ep. ad Bonif. clxxxix)

Roman Catholics inherited Augustine's views on just war, and the guidelines he laid down served the Church and Christian princes through numerous wars. The Reformers, in part, accepted Augustine's rationale, as the Lutheran Augsburg Confession states:

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May (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48