Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land, a leading Christian conservative who helped advance the Bush administration’s agenda on a range of social issues, said Monday that the formerly sanctioned practice of waterboarding of suspected terrorists is torture and
“violates everything we stand for.”
Land, who is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, repudiated the simulated drowning techniques in an interview with Religion News Service.
This week on The Bulletin, hosts Russell Moore and Nicole Martin explore questions of belonging as they head behind the news headlines to deeper conversation about adoption, international student ministry, and psychedelic spiritual experiences. Special guests Cameron Lee Small and CT’s Kara Bettis Carvalho discuss the complexities of embryo adoption. Greg Jao of InterVarsity stops by to offer ideas on integrating international students into our church communities, and New York pastor Aaron Bjerke shares the gentle path of Jesus that can attract those longing to escape life’s struggles.
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Joining us this week:
Kara Bettis Carvalho is a journalist, storyteller, and associate editor of features and opinion for Christianity Today. Read more of her writing here.
Cameron Lee Small, author of This Is Why I Was Adopted, has been working to raise consciousness about faith, child welfare, and mental health since 2012, after meeting his biological mother in Korea. Transracially adopted and founder of Therapy Redeemed, he holds a master’s in counseling psychology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a licensed professional clinical counselor. Cam is PACC certified and registered as an accredited service provider through TAC via Center for Adoption Support and Education. He is also a vetted clinician with MN ADOPT.
Greg Jao serves as senior assistant to the president, diversity and external relations, for InterVarsity. Prior to his ministry with InterVarsity, Greg Jao was an employee benefits attorney in Chicago. He is the author of Your Mind’s Mission (2012) and The Kingdom of God (LifeGuide Bible Studies, 2003) and contributed to Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents (2009), all published by InterVarsity Press. Greg also helped develop the Daniel Project, a leadership acceleration program for InterVarsity ethnic minority staff and fraternity/sorority ministry staff.
Aaron Bjerke has served New York City since 2008 when he was a pastoral intern under veteran New York City pastor Tim Keller. He was an assistant pastor and community group director at Redeemer Presbyterian Church East Side for five years until he began church planting in November 2018. Today he serves as pastor of The Well.
Read More from Christianity Today about Today’s Topics:
Adopted Children Have Already Been ‘Re-Homed’
Frozen Embryos Are the New Orphan Crisis
I Started Attending Diwali Parties to Break Out of My Christian Bubble
The Dangers of a Psychedelic Gospel
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According to recently released memos, federal agents under Bush waterboarded two suspected terrorists 266 times in attempts to extract information.
“I consider waterboarding torture,” Land said. “One of the definitions of torture is that it causes permanent physical harm. I can’t separate physical from psychological. And I can’t imagine that being repeatedly subjected to the feeling of drowning would not, in some cases, cause lasting psychological trauma.”
But Land also criticized President Obama for publicly releasing Bush-era documents that authorized particular interrogation techniques.
“To leave open the possibility of prosecuting men for what the Justice Department had declared was legal, I think is a horrific mistake,” Land said. “If it were to lead to trials of some sort, it would rip the country apart.”
Land’s comments come amidst ongoing public debate about what constitutes torture, whether harsh interrogation techniques result in useful information, and what should happen to Bush administration officials who advised that waterboarding was legal, not torture.
Land explained that while he supports capital punishment for convicted killers, he denounces torture in all cases because he’s compelled to honor the image of God as reflected in all human beings – even suspected terrorists. To justify waterboarding on the grounds that it helps save lives is to suggest that ends justify means, Land said, adding: “that is a very slippery slope that leads to dark and dangerous places.”
“If the end justifies the means, then where do you draw the line?” Land said. “It’s a moveable line. It’s in pencil, not in ink. I believe there are absolutes. There are some things we must never do.”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has defended waterboarding as part of a “remarkably successful effort” to gather information about the al-Qaida terrorist network. Support for Cheney’s position has come from such prominent Christian conservatives as former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who is Pentecostal.
