What is the Christian position on the morality of torturing terrorism suspects?
957333
I'm Catholic/Christian & I will quote from my source exactly what my church says about torture under the heading "Respect for bodily integrity"-- Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the  person & for human dignity.\n\nIn the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the commandment, "You shall not kill," & adds to it the banning of anger, hatred & vengeance.  Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies.  He told Peter to leave his sword in its shealth.
419123
Islam, Christianity and Judaism are all terrorist.\nHowever Christianity and Judaism have very little power to do evil any more. The West is not Jewish or Christian, it is POST-Judeo-Christian. On the other hand Islam is still in the middle of Dark Ages, and there is very little possibility for changing that.\nIslam teaches terrorism, it is right there in the Quran. It is ever Muslim’s duty to fight in the way of Allah. It is every Muslim’s highest honor to die in the war for their religion.\nTherefore, even though only a minority actually commits terrorist acts, a GREAT majority supports them with their whole hearts. Even a bloody terrorist like OSAMA, is extremely popular and loved everywhere in Muslim world. People don’t say that to the Westerners, but they are so happy, when terrorists strike. \nWithout the moral support of the majority, the violent minority would not be able to operate.
935758
I don't think the extremists Muslims think murder is a sin.  I think they think it is their one way ticket to Paradise and all those virgins.  It makes me sick.
222129
You might try putting yourself in their mindframe.  They believe they have the answers which will save them from eternal damnation, hell, torture and whatever else accompanies that belief.  If you knew you had this knowledge, and if you see there are millions of people in regions in the world where they do not know about this, you might feel you have a humane responsibility to help spread this information to save people.\n\nWhile I understand that impulse from a humanitarian point of view, I would fault them for not realizing there are hundreds of religions all over the world.\n\nDespite this some-what narrow minded view, missionary activities bring some benefits to a region;  often they work to build up infrastructure such as roads/electricity/etc.  In comparison, Christian missionary activities, which are humanitarian in nature, are far better than other religious actions.  A priest working in the jungles can do good for humankind, and is much preferable to detrimental forms of religious expression and atrocities that unfortunately tends to go hand in hand with religious fervor.
131178
i do not think all muslims are terrorists, just like i don't think all christians are racist, cross-burning, biggots.\n\nthe following is a copy of an answer that i just put in a similiar question...\n\none day, a couple years ago, i was pumping my gas and the young man at the pump next to me starting talking to me. we had very good conversation for those 3 minutes. it was obvious that he was not from the area, so i asked "where are you from?" he lowered his head, hesitated, softened his voice and said "afganistan". i felt so ashamed of americans at that moment. that this young man could not even lift his head and say proudly where he was form. did he think that i was going to yell out at the top of my voice? did he think i was going to call him a terrorist? i still to this day remember that moment.\n\neven among the christian faith, there are people that take it too far. the KKK consider themselves chritians. do the rest of the christians walk with head bowed and whisper that they are christians for fear that someone will call them out as a racist biggot? no, they don't.\n\ndo not judge all by one.
1067545
It depends on the Muslim. Like Christianity, there are lots of different interpretations of the faith, and lots of people trying to force the faith to fit around what they *want* to believe (To quote Mr Hicks, "I believe what God *meant* to say was...").\n\nApparently some christians are trying to 'reinterpret' one of the ten commandments from "Thou shalt not kill" to "Thou shalt not murder", and then interpret murder in such a way that if the state kills, it's not murder. All so they can justify the death penalty.\n\nYou've got to admire the effort they've gone to. Most people just turn a blind eye.\n\n\nAaaanyway, soon the Flying Spaghetti Monster will return, and sort all those heretics out.\n\nRamen.
219459
Its like saying all men are rapists.  All men want to dominate and hurt women.  All women are whores.  You just can't generalise like that.\n\nAnd actually not all terrorists are Islamic, there are more than enough terrorists destroying lives in Africa and South America and Ireland to mention a few places.  And these are predominantly christian lands.\n\nDon't be so prejudiced against people, because there are some nice Moslem people out there who are horrified by what the extremists are doing in the name of their faith.  It must be scary times for those who are peaceful to see themselves grouped together with the mass murderers and are subjected to force of ill-will from non-moslems who feel it is their right to punish moslems.\n\nIf a priest abuses a boy, we don't lynch mob all priests, we understand that he is a bad seed.  Similarly we aught not to categorise all moslems as the same.
1003600
All i can say as a christian is that if this is true i would pay with my life to fight against such atrocity. I pray the Muslim people can pray to Allah at there place and way of choosing.
1013848
When a Christian or a Jew kills someone his religion is not mentioned, but when Muslim is charged with a crime, it is Islam that goes to trial! When someone sacrfices himself to keep others alive, he is noble and all respect him. \nBut when a Palestinian does that to save his son from being killed, his brother's arm being broken, his mother being raped, his home being destroyed, and his mosque being violated -- He gets the title of a terrorist! Why? Because he is a Muslim!
357582
But the question is what this punishment will consist of. Is it eternal torture? Not likely. Apart from major philosophical and ethical issues, the idea of hell as an eternal torture chamber is a primitive and un-Christian notion, a result of early Christianity's loss of ground to patristic, egotistic pagans. \n\nDoes this punishment consist of utter annihilation of the soul in question? Possibly. This is what the Bible seems to be saying.\n\nDoes this punishment consist of selective destruction of the wicked part of the soul in question, and the rest obtaining forgiveness? Possibly. Again, this can be read out of Scriptures.\n\nBut in any of  the above cases, Satan is acting (like he always has been) as an agent of God's will.\n\nTheses are complicated theological issues that require much study, and I am afraid I have not quite done them justice, so forgive me if in my ignorance I have presented something untrue.
736881
i was thinking the same thing. but if you go to heaven and you look at them being tortured for eternity and burning. you'll just know they had their chance.  God gave them a certain amount of time to repent and turn to him if they don't then they got what they deserve.
780587
The Christian answer would be "Nothing! Killing people who don't believe in you or don't share the same belief system as you is perfectly ok!"
1071562
Islam, as I understand it, teaches that all non-Muslims should be put to death.  While I know that not all Muslims want to kill what you consider "infidels",  unfortunately, terrorists give you a bad name, and you all pay the price for it.
624785
They obviously think they are doing the will of Allah.  I cannot get into a terrorist's mind (thank GOD) to understand this for a moment.  I can't imagine how you could think that beheading an innocent person is somehow the will of God.  They have been brainwashed from an early age.  That's all I know.
527407
The Qur'an,, or the Islamic holy book teaches that they are to kill Jews and Christians. If they die while doing this, they are promised instant access to paradise.  \n\nMuhammad taught that Holy War was an acceptable and good thing to do.  To clarify, he even stated that if a Muslim were to die in battle, fighting for the cause of Allah, that he would be guaranteed to go to Paradise.  \n\nSlay non-muslims:  "Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful," (Quran 9:5). \n\nAllah urges killing: "...the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city do not desist... 61Cursed: wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering. 62(Such has been) the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah, (Quran 33:60-62). \n\nAs you can see, the Qur'an definitely teaches that it's people are to fight for the cause of Islam. This list of verses is important because they are within the holy book of Islam. What are we to conclude if a Muslim or to take the Quran seriously? Is he not obligated to slay non-Muslims, to go to war, to kill those against Islam, etc.? Isn't this what the verses are teaching? Yes, they are and this is the source of Islamic Terrorism.\n\n\nThe Bible tells us however to love our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us.  (our government is not able to do this as they have the duty to protect it's citizens)\n\nI find it very revealing to see that if a Christian told a Muslim about Jesus, he could be executed in their society, but they do want to be able to spread Islam here without anyone stopping them.  I believe TRUTH has nothing to hide but they sure are hiding a lot.
834572
Please keep in mind that what some criminals do to their victims is much worse than the death penalty.  Many victims who were tortured and raped repeatedly for years while being held captive in makeshift dungeons would have welcomed a swift death rather than what they experienced.  Many people think that the death penalty is too good for some of those criminals.  They would prefer subjecting them to the same torture they perpetrated on their victims.  But doing that would be inhumane, and, in essence, they would be lowering themselves to the level of the criminals.  So, they try to show some compassion by providing them with a more humane penalty--a quick death rather than a slow one involving torture.  Although I'm not a religious person, I think it's interesting that the Bible recommends an eye for an eye.  Maybe that's why church and state are separate.  If the church were running the justice system, I fear penalties would become worse than the crimes.  If you don't think so, look at the Middle East where  women are stoned to death for committing adultery or having sex out of wedlock.  So, when you look at the death penalty from that perspective, it doesn't seem so bad--well, unless you're the one on death row, I guess.  My opinion is that the people justly receiving the death penalty probably deserve worse, and should consider themselves fortunate.  \n\nYes, my country, USA, has the death penalty (in many states).\n\nYes. In my opionion, Sadam Hussein deserves what he got (and worse).
25834
Sure here it is:\n\n"...4.89 They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and KILL THEM wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper..."\n\nIslam although started as benign (minority phase) became more oppressive as it gained power and rule over people (majority rule phase). This one here cancels out the others where execution of "force" is shunned (it's very hard to execute force when you're handful).\n\nHowever, Koran asks us to kill the ones who were once Muslims but now they are not. It's moderate and forgiving to those "of the book" (meaning christians and jews) but unforgiving to the ones who turn from the religion. \n\nIt's understandable for Christians and jews are "others" who see it from outside, whereas once-muslims know about the inside deal. \n\nA little bit too dangerous to warrant death penalty. Well, just remember Brutus.