I too am Concerned
This concern related to the secret CIA prisons and Mr. Frist’s greater concern for the leaks rather than the continued (yet denied) existence of torture in our intelligence gathering community led me to find this link from David Schraub (another blog I find myself looking to often lately.)
The Debate Link: Well I am a Twitch Concerned
Well I am a bit concerned. Because I think that abandoning core American values is not something we should turn away from. As Sullivan puts it elsewhere:
We can win this war without destroying the very civilization we are fighting for. We can win without losing our soul. Any other kind of victory is a euphemism for defeat.
That’s why I care. Because we aren’t winning the war on terror, a war against global extremism, if we ourselves are terrorizing, if we become the extremists. Torture is an extreme position. It should and must be beyond the pale.
It also parallels my reaction against Pat Robertson and his peculiar brand of religious politics. It goes against life in all its forms.
Last summer I was at a retreat and heard Dr. Elaine Robinson talk about the gospel of Jesus calling us to a life-centered way of being. In her book
These Three she writes these words:
The humble response of love. When our loves and lives are reoriented by God’s love, then the principle of life becomes central. The gospel, the good news of God’s love for humanity in Christ and the Holy Spirit is a life-centered discourse, promoting the well-being of the whole of creation. Humanity has a particular responsibility for promoting restoration because we bear the lion’s share of culpability. (page 155)
I like that term life-centered because it says something more than being pro-life (a word that unfortunately has been co-opted by some extreme groups so much that it has almost lost its meaning. To be truly life-centered in my understanding is not only to care for life in others, but to care for the life within us as well.
What do you gain by becoming a dragon to combat a dragon? When the battle is over you still have a dragon left over, even if you win.
