Friday, May 15, 2009

WWAFOJD

For the last few years we've all seen "WWJD" emblazoned on shirts, buttons, etc., and if you're a Christian it seems a pretty good lens through which to view moral choices, right? Wrong, says prominent evangelical Christian Gary Bauer. Get this:

“There are a lot of things Jesus wouldn’t do because he’s the son of God,” he said. “The more appropriate question is, ‘What is a follower of Jesus permitted to do?’”

The moral equation changes when the suspect is not a soldier captured on a battlefield but a terrorist who may have knowledge of an impending attack.

“I think if we believe the person we have can give us information to stop thousands of Americans from being killed, it would be morally suspect to not use harsh tactics to get that information,” Bauer said.


So let me understand this. Jesus, being divine (or part divine, or something...I have never understood it), can't torture people, but his followers, who are presumably not divine, are not only allowed to torture, they are morally obligated to do so. And so torture goes from an act of barbarity to an affirmation of one's dedication to morality. Holy cow.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Thinking like this is why I'm a big fan of Richard Dawkins.

Anonymous said...

Sean said...

I see, it actually makes perfect sense once you view the christian gods like the greek gods. Jesus can't embarass his father by engaging in something as vulgar as torture, that's what the plebs are for.

Daniel Linehan said...

Jesus, according to the orthodox tradition, is fully divine and fully human at the same time. If you object that this doesn't make sense, the pope will give a sarcastic little snort and try to make you feel stupid for saying anything.

Gillian said...

My take: that's some bullshit right there.