Reply #179: For members of the UMC, torture is specifically proscribed. [View All]

From an email by Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D that I received a few days ago:

Torture is a crime against humanity and a violation of every human rights treaty in existence. It represents a betrayal of the deepest values of the UMC that founded and built SMU. In the supposedly “less enlightened” 18th century, John Wesley explicitly preached against the torture of prisoners of war:

War itself is justifiable only on principles of self-preservation: Therefore it gives us no right over prisoners, but to hinder their hurting us by confining them. Much less can it give a right to torture, or kill, or even to enslave an enemy when the war is over (5).

Bush, who claims to be a “proud Methodist,” shows no sign of contrition or regret or remorse or repentance for his un-Christian behavior. To the contrary, he continues to try to justify himself and protect those in our government who have used and continue to use torture. Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoffer in Nazi Germany rightly called the cowardliness of the Christians in that terrible time to make evil-doers accountable for their wicked deeds “cheap grace”. Building a monument to this torturer-in-chief on a UMC campus to “celebrate this great president, celebrate his accomplishments” (6) is a defilement of our church that will permanently damage our credibility to proclaim the Christian faith. (emphasis added)