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Torture Tiffani Dickerson Regent University

Torture After the events that took place on September 11th, 2001it seemed that the objective of never allowing another event like that to take place on American soil was more important than morals or human dignity. Although the American justice system has tried to convince the public that all people are innocent until proven guilty, it seems the assumption of innocence did not apply to humans not born in the United States or, more specifically, humans that held a middle eastern nationality. Torture, no matter the circumstance or perceived justification, is illegal, it rarely ever provides reliable intelligence data, and it is not aligned with the worldview of biblical Christianity. The United Nations Human Rights takes aim at ensuring countries are treating people humanely during a time of war or armed conflict (United Nations). They were able to successfully have the majority of the countries in the world agree upon the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and agree on a precise definition of torture as: "…any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity" (United Nations). Therefore any violation of this definition is illegal. The benefit of a clear definition of what the majority deem to be unlawful is that there can be swift punishment for the violations of the law.

Sadly it seems that even when countries like the United States claimed to be in support of not engaging in torture, they did so in private by utilizing what they called 'black sites which were uncovered to be prisons only a select group of personnel had access to in the name of eradicating terrorism by any means (Annas et al.). Going through such lengths to hide these illegal acts, one can only assume the parties involved knew they were carrying out a heinous act. Author Mary Lowth explains in her article that interrogation tactics that rely heavily on torture incorrectly assume that a human's reaction to such acts will elicit helpful intelligence (Lowth). She goes on to argue that the exact opposite of the tortures' hopeful outcome happens, in that the victim may confess in an effort to stop the suffering (Lowth). Therefore making any intelligence gathered as a result of torture unreliable (Lowth). She strengthens this argument by interviewing an expert in how the brain reacts on the subject, and he states that while a person is under stress in fear of something or in pain, your brain can't function on the same level it can outside of these situations (Lowth). Her argument and the testimony of a subject matter expert on how the brain functions are vital in our understanding of the use of torture for any other reason than to do harm. If it does not actually help in receiving intelligence data that can save lives, what other reason would torture need to be used for? Torture as a means of control is not a new concept. In fact, Ross Bellaby states in his book that the history of the world proves that it was used as a vital tool by governments for as far back as the ancient Greek and Roman empires (Bellaby 142). As Christians, we are all too familiar with torture and its horrible effects on not just the victim but those around them when we look at the horrific crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Holman Christian Standard Bible). Although Jesus loved humanity enough to carry out God's will of Him making the ultimate sacrifice for us. When Mark 15 speaks on how Jesus was spit on, physical hit, mocked, refused water or clothing,

and ultimately was hung to death on a cross for hours it is clear that God had no intention of depicting torture as a moral means of carrying out justice (Holman Christian Standard Bible). As Christians, if we condone the treatment of other individuals in the same manner they murdered Jesus Christ, we are just as bad as the Pharisees Jesus calls us to be nothing like (Holman Christian Standard Bible). Much like modern torture victims, Jesus wasn't given a fair trial, he barely was able to speak for Himself, and although He is fully God, He was also fully human (Holman Christian Standard Bible). There was no regard for Jesus as a human during His torture. The mere thought of subjecting another life through the harm that was done to Him should be enough for every Christian to fight against torture as a reaction to anything. The perspective of Christians on torture has to be founded in biblical truth. There is no denying that it is not of God. The textbook titled Terrorism Today shows that, instance after instance, torture has never resolved any conflict throughout time (Spindlove). It is clear that torture is not a reliable tactic to receive intelligence data through based on evidentiary anecdotes and studies done (Lowth). Thanks to the United Nations' efforts in collaborating worldwide to clearly define what torture is, the act is illegal and can be prosecuted to ensure the erasure of the practice. Lastly, as Christians, we are saved through grace, meaning that because of the ultimate sacrifice God made by taking human form and experience a horrific death, we are cleansed of our sins should we believe in Him. Understanding that this sacrifice also came with torture should be a wake-up call for all Christians who believed that in the name of gathering intelligence data to protect the presumed innocent, torture was justified. A biblically founded worldview is not complete without understanding that we do not give life, and so we are not in charge of taking it away, even if that means mentally breaking someone down utilizing torture.

References Annas, G. J., Author AffiliationsFrom the Department of Health Law, Others, A. J. and, T. T. Shimabukuro and Others, & P. T. Heath and Others. (2021, July 7). Post-9/11 Torture at CIA "Black Sites" - Physicians and Lawyers Working Together: NEJM. New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMp1503428. Bellaby, R. (2016). Torture. In Ethics of intelligence: a new framework (pp. 142–142). essay, Routledge. Holman Bible Publishers. (2011). Holy Bible: the Old & New Testaments: Holman Christian Standard Bible. Lowth, M. (2017, March). Does torture work? Donald Trump and the CIA. The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5325643/#b5. Spindlove J. R., & Simonsen C. E. (2017). Terrorism Today. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134549347/ United Nations Human Rights. (n.d.). Convention against Torture. OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cat.aspx....