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Macomb, IL – A favorite Psalm sings "You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day," but when modern "arrows" are explosives, it's awfully difficult to be unafraid. Therefore, it's understandable that fear causes Americans to think that torture of suspected terrorists is sometimes justified.
However, it's confusing that people who say they're Christians are more supportive of torture than self-identified "unaffiliated" Americans, and it's surprising that those who regularly worship support torture more than those who rarely attend religious services.
Soon, the US Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to release its report from an 18-month probe into the CIA's use of torture - abuses including long-term isolation and sensory deprivation, extremes of heat and cold, water-boarding, sleep deprivation, forced stress positions, and worse - so the issue is again being debated. It should be discussed prayerfully as well as politically.
After all, the Romans tortured Jesus, beating and scourging Him, and placing thorns on His head and a spear in His side during his crucifixion, presumably because they wanted to extract information about a feared Jewish uprising against the empire as much as inflict punishment.
Even if His treatment is seen as destined, His suffering and pain were real; the brutality shameful.
But there seems to be a feeling - probably fueled by fear - that torture might be needed for national security, so maybe it's logical, if not exactly defensible. Of course, St. Paul in Romans clearly wrote that doing evil to achieve good is forbidden.
Still, politicians such as Illinois' Republican US Senator Mark Kirk sure seem to rationalize torture. In May, Kirk defended torturers and criticized Intelligence Committee investigators, saying, "These Americans did their jobs at the direction of the President of the United States. This politically motivated investigation will have a chilling effect on the work of their colleagues and other national security professionals in the US government."
That may ring true for many. Polls say more Americans support some torture than oppose it. The breakdown is 49% of the US population supporting and 47% opposing, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Meanwhile, 62% of evangelical Protestants think torture is OK; 51% of Catholics; 46% "mainline" Protestants; and just 40% unaffiliated.
Defying a reasonable assumption that mercy would correlate with church activity, polls find that people who worship at least weekly are more likely to support torture than others.
Frequent churchgoers back torture 54% to 44%; people who worship monthly or less 51% to 46%; and people who seldom or never attend religious services 42% to 53%, all according to Pew.
US Senator John McCain, Republicans' 2008 presidential nominee and a victim of torture during the Vietnam War, recently repeated his longtime objection to torture, writing, "So-called enhanced interrogation techniques are prohibited by American laws and values, and I oppose them."
Clarifying that finding terrorist leader Osama bin Laden did not result from torture, McCain went on to say that "under torture, a person will say anything he thinks his captors want - true or false - if he believes it will relieve his suffering. Mistreatment of enemy prisoners endangers our own troops, who might someday be held captive."
He says the nation should "stand as an example of a nation that holds an individual's human rights as superior to the will of the majority or the wishes of government. This is a moral debate."
Catholic Bishops wrote a guide, Torture is a Moral Issue, encouraging people to oppose torture since everyone has an inalienable dignity as a result of being created in the image and likeness of God.
Still, fear is powerful. Sometimes it causes a thirst for revenge, which can lead to torturing captives. That runs counter to Christianity's moral traditions and clergy's preference for restoration over retribution after wrongdoing.
As the debate is rekindled, two other Scripture passages may comfort: Mark says, "Do not be afraid; only have faith" and the Book of Habakkuk reads, "...the just shall live by his faith."
Bill Knight is a freelance writer who teaches at Western Illinois University. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of WIU or Tri States Public Radio.