Religion and politics

Siouxlander (J Schaap) had a great post today about the religious right and politics. I have been lately of the opinion that some of that group had sold their souls to the devil in return for Republican security. I was waiting for Dobson or someone of that ilk to come out with a response regarding torture and its use by our sweet old government. I waited in vain and finally got up the nerve to ask FotF about their position on torture. The wheels of that organization grind slowly but they do grind and eventually I got a response, although not at all what I was expecting. It turns out that my jaded view of FotF is nothing compared to the reality of it. I quote from their response below:

The issue you’ve raised is timely, important, and deserving of our careful attention. Unfortunately, it’s also extremely complex, difficult to resolve, and largely beyond the range of our expertise here at Focus. We believe that prisoners in U.S. custody deserve humane treatment -- this is, after all, a basic question of human rights. At the same time, however, we are not in a position to speak authoritatively about the Bush administration’s present policies or future intentions in this regard. We do know that, from the beginning of the global war on terror, the Pentagon has insisted that it treats all prisoners humanely. Yet, the debate is complicated by the fact that the struggle in which we currently are engaged is not a conventional war; for this reason, it’s unclear how the provisions of the Geneva Convention apply to detainees held in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. In the end, treatment of detainees must be rightly balanced with the security and safety of our citizenry.

If you follow this reasoning, you can see that they actually don't say much about torture being wrong and when I see all the weasel words like "unclear" and "balanced" I know that they are way off base on their thinking here. It sounds to me like you could justify the use of torture from this position. But, they go on to say that their real concerns have to do with what others might say or do to embarrass the US and the military. A twist that I did not expect. See for yourself:

Despite the uncertainties and ambiguities surrounding this discussion, we can tell you that Dr. Dobson and the Focus staff *do* have serious misgivings about the potentially destructive and demoralizing uses to which the reports of torture may be put by those who are less than supportive of our president and our troops in Iraq.

I have serious misgivings about this reply from a Christian organization to worry about what people might think, heaven forbid. How far the wise and mighty have fallen.

The Watcher