Thursday, May 07, 2009

Jesus is coming. Get the waterboard.

Remember when the Passion of the Christ came out and all the good Christian evangelicals flocked to the flick to watch Jesus get tortured by the evil Romans? Remember that?

Well, according to a Pew study, a majority of those evangelicals are now siding with the Romans. Fully 62% of white evangelical Christians think it's OK to torture suspected terrorists. Not known terrorists, but suspected terrorists. Like Jesus.

I love irony, don't you?

It's not only evangelicals who appear to have lost their souls on this issue, either. They're just the most eager to tighten the thumb screws. In fact, the more often you attend religious services, the more likely you are to justify using pain, humiliation and degradation on your fellow man.

Makes you wonder just what they're teaching in those churches, doesn't it?

It's been a long time since I read the New Testament, but I have read it and while I'm no expert, I don't remember Jesus ever giving the green light to torture. He was much more of a turn-the-other-cheek kinda guy, if I recall.

But American Christians say fuck that. You got some swarthy middle eastern dude suspected of stirring up trouble for the empire? Break out the stress positions, brother.

So, let's take stock of where we are in America, shall we? We have the GOP, the self-proclaimed law and order party wanting to disregard the rule of law and the hardcore Christians advocating behavior that is not only illegal, but is distinctly unChristian.

Jesus, it's no wonder we've lost our way.

For those who want more substance and less snark in your torture news, I invite you to check out Barry Eisler's blog post on the subject. It's good.

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