Interesting read of the week
This month’s Books and Culture has a very thought-provoking and incisive on-line essay titled “Human Rights and Justice in an Age of Terror:
An evangelical critique of An Evangelical Declaration against Torture.” The author, Keith Pavlischek, describes himself as “an evangelical, a political philosopher, and a recently retired intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps with a long history of both scholarly and personal interest in these matters.”
Like many others, I’ve been upset by the stories of “torture lite” and other coercive measures, maltreatment of prisoners, and so on by the US in recent years. It does seem we (Americans) have lost some of our ideals. This article does not directly challenge that idea and certainly does not in any way support the use of torture, but it does expose some of what has been said as fuzzy-headed, muddled thinking.
Like nearly everything in Books and Culture it’s interesting reading and makes you think. If you read it, let me know what you think of it.