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I believe this is the best explanation for what is happening with the issue of torture in our nation. We are tempted to follow the logic of a July 11, 2005, Time magazine cover story that said, "In the war on terrorism, the personal dignity of a fanatic trained for mass murder may be an inevitable casualty."

Yet we are queasy enough about this "inevitable casualty" that we do not want to call torture what it is. We do not want to expose our policies, our prisons, or our prisoners to public view. We deny that we are torturing, or we deny that our prisoners are really prisoners. When pushed against the wall, we remind one another how evil the enemy is. We give every evidence of the kind of self-deception that is characteristic of a descent into sin.

It is past time for evangelical Christians to remind our government and our society of perennial moral values, which also happen to be international and domestic laws. As Christians, we care about moral values, and we vote on the basis of such values. We care deeply about human-rights violations around the world. Now it is time to raise our voice and say an unequivocal no to torture, a practice that has no place in our society and violates our most cherished moral convictions.

David P. Gushee is professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and author of Only Human: Christian Reflections on the Journey Toward Wholeness (Jossey-Bass, 2005). A longer version of this essay can be accessed at www.davidgushee.com.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

A longer version of this essay can be accessed at DavidGushee.com.

Other Christianity Today articles on torture, cruel and degrading treatment, and prison abuse, are available in our full coverage area. The articles include:

Silence on Suffering | Where are the voices from the Christian community on cruel and degrading treatment of detainees? By Gary A. Haugen (Oct. 17, 2005)

The Evil In Us | Prisoner torture in Iraq exposes the ordinary face of human depravity. A Christianity Today editorial (June 10, 2004)

I Was in Prison and You Abused Me | What would Jesus do at Abu Ghraib? By Steven Gertz (May 28, 2004)

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly last week examined what religious leaders, including evangelicals, are saying about torture.

Gushee is also an ethics columnist for Christianity Today. His "Do Likewise" columns include:

Bill's Big Career Move | How do we make important family decisions? By David P. Gushee (Jan. 10, 2006)

Our Missing Moral Compass | Christianity is more than an event, an experience, or a set of beliefs. (Nov. 14, 2005)

He is also an occasional columnist for Beliefnet and Religion News Service, the latter of which recently published another column by him on torture.

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February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2