Insanity: The Case of Catholics Who Defend Torture

Preliminary Note

This article is not going to deal with the allegations of the Senate Report on CIA torture and whether or not they are true. I’ve seen some people try to sidestep the real issue by questioning whether the report is accurate. As I see it, that’s a red herring. Regardless of whether or not this report is accurate, that doesn’t change the issue of whether torture should be done at all. This article is going to deal with that second issue. If torture is evil, then whatever nation uses it is doing evil—and that includes the United States.

Introduction

There is a certain insanity going around the internet—or, for their sakes, I hope it is insanity—concerning the release of the Senate report on torture and the CIA. I call it insanity because the action is essentially Catholics openly rejecting the teaching of the Church. Mind you, these are not the typical dissenting Catholics who reject the Catholic teaching on abortion and contraception and teach that people need not listen to the Church. These are people who openly profess their belief in and obedience to the Church who are saying that torture, which the Church condemns as intrinsically evil (that is, never can be considered morally acceptable under any conditions), is justified against the enemies of the United States.

The Catholic Cannot Be Considered Faithful In Defiance of Church Teaching

This is where the individual Catholic has to make a choice. Either he recognizes that the Church teaches with the authority of Christ, and is protected from teaching error, or he denies that authority—at least on some issues—and makes himself or herself the authority which judges the Church.

The Catholic who professes to be faithful knows that when the Church teaches on a matter of faith and morals, even when the Pope does not teach ex cathedra, the Catholic is supposed to give assent to the teaching of the Church. We can see that taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #892:

892 Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a “definitive manner,” they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful “are to adhere to it with religious assent”⁴²² which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it.

So, when the Church condemns something in a source like the Catechism, we are to give our assent (express agreement) to this teaching. If we don’t, we’re not being obedient to the Church teaching, and if we condemn others for being disobedient to Church teaching, we show ourselves to be hypocrites. Now, it is good to explain the why of a Church teaching, but right off the bat, we have to make a fundamental choice.

The Catholic Defending Torture is Rejecting Church Teaching

The defense of torture tends to take three basic forms (which can be embellished by name calling and emotional rhetoric). All of them involve a rejection of Catholic teaching. These three basic forms are:

1. What was done was not torture.
2. We have to do this to keep Americans safe.
3. What we do is not as bad as what they do.

The first of these denies that the Church has the authority to define what is and what is not torture. In the Catechism (#2297), the Church describes torture as "physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred.” The individual Catholic does not have the right to define it in a more convenient way.

The second promotes an idea of pragmatism which the Church utterly repudiates. In the Catechism (#1789), the Church declares, "One may never do evil so that good may result from it.” Yes the government is required to protect her citizens from harm. No, the government cannot choose to use evil means to do so. All the arguments that state that because we haven’t had a major terrorist attack since 9/11/01 are irrelevant. If torture is evil (and the Church teaches it is), then we cannot use it as a means to let good come of it.

The third argument is sheer moral relativism. It replaces good and evil with the concept of “Not as bad as . . .” Basically it says, "I’m not as bad as a terrorist. Therefore what I do is acceptable.” The Problem is, whose standards are you going to measure yourself against? Pope Francis? George W. Bush? Obama? Kim Jong-Un? Josef Stalin? Adolf Hitler? As long as you use someone worse than you as your standard, you can basically justify whatever the hell you want. And that’s what is happening. Say on Facebook that torture is evil and people will say that what we do is not as bad as what ISIS does, so we shouldn’t complain.

But the problem is, just because what ISIS does is grossly evil does not mean that what we do is not evil. The difference between ISIS and what the US has been accused of is not the difference between two extremes. It’s a difference of degrees—ISIS is willing to tolerate more to achieve their goals than the US is, but both are willing to make use of "physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred.”

But, if we use what benefits us as a sign of what is good and compare ourselves to someone who is worse, what basis would we have to complain if ISIS said, “We’re not as bad as Josef Stalin or Adolf Hitler”? They would be using the same argument, but in their own favor. Without an objective moral standard that says “torture may never be done,” the only standard is the morality of the individual. History is full of people who believe this . . . and we look back on them with horror and disgust. 

Basically, none of these arguments are compatible with Catholic teaching. If we believe that God exists, and that certain things are always evil, we must not do those things. If we have done these things, we must repent and turn away from them if we would have God forgive us.

Conclusion

For the Catholic, we cannot let our political ideology get in the way of our faith. If we believe that the Catholic Church was given the authority to bind and loose by Christ Himself, we have to accept that the Church has the authority to bind and loose what we can do—always protected from teaching error in things concerning our salvation. If we reject that, it makes very little sense to remain in the Church.

If something is condemned as wrong by the Church, we do not have the right to say it is morally good. That includes abortion, and it includes torture. We who claim to be faithful Catholics must be faithful to all the teachings of the Church, not just those we like. Otherwise, we’re just cafeteria Catholics, just like those who reject the Church teaching on contraception and abortion and so-called “same sex marriage."

We must also realize that we will be judged for what we do, and we will be judged for leading others astray. As the Catechism points out (#2283), "It is also blasphemous to make use of God’s name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture persons or put them to death. The misuse of God’s name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion."

Will God judge us for causing people to repudiate religion because we are so foolish as to reject the Church teaching on a subject where even the irreligious can see evil is being done?

Think about it.

Resharing Articles on Torture

With the recent report out on torture, I find that some Catholics are attempting to justify it, even though the Church declares it as being intrinsically evil.

First is my 2011 article, which I wrote as an investigation based on my disliking both the pro- and anti-waterboarding arguments as being logically flawed. So this was a sort of summary of my personal explorations.  There is one amendment I would like to point out here, however:

At that time I concluded it was torture, but said I could not specifically state that the Church mentioned it by name. Since then, I found a convincing argument that pointed out that the Church did not post a comprehensive list of cruelty that was condemned and the attempts to say that because the Church didn’t mention waterboarding by name it wasn’t torture, was actually an argument from silence fallacy. Keep that in mind when reading this article (found HERE).

The second article (2014) was written in response to certain Catholics who were arguing that it didn’t matter if it was torture or not, it was still justified. My article took the position that one could not be a good Catholic and support torture. I still believe this is correct. (Read HERE).

Also, we need to remember the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reminds us:

1789 Some rules apply in every case: (1756; 1970; 1827; 1971)

— One may never do evil so that good may result from it;

— the Golden Rule: “Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.”⁵⁶

— charity always proceeds by way of respect for one’s neighbor and his conscience: “Thus sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience … you sin against Christ.”⁵⁷ Therefore “it is right not to … do anything that makes your brother stumble.”⁵⁸

 

And:

 

2297 Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. 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 and for human dignity. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.⁹¹

2298 In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors. (2267)

Quite simply, torture is incompatible with our Catholic faith, regardless of the good some think it must do:

1. No evil can be done so good may come of it
2. The Church condemns torture as evil.
3. Therefore No Torture can be done so good may come of it.

Deny that the Church can condemn torture as evil, and you also deny the authority of the Church to condemn things like abortion, murder, etc.

TFTD: The Chilling Imposition of Ideology

I came across an article today: "Catholic profs told to report opposition to 'gay marriage' as harassment :: Catholic News Agency (CNA),” that is troubling in one sense, and downright chilling in another sense. The troubling sense of the article is that a Catholic university (Marquette) has had a training session which tells them to report opposition to so-called “same sex marriage” as “harassment.”  The article reports a spokesman from Marquette as saying:

Brian Dorrington, senior director of communications at Marquette University, told CNA Nov. 21 that the university requires all employees, faculty, staff and student employees, to complete an anti-harassment module “in accordance with federal law and university policy,” He added that harassment training “includes the latest changes in law, and workplace diversity training reflects developing regulations.”

He said the presentation uses “hypothetical scenarios” are “teaching tools do not necessarily equate to university policy.”

Given that the Church condemns sexual acts outside of the marriage of one man and one woman as morally wrong, the fact that a Catholic university has given such a training session to be morally troubling.

However, while troubling (a Catholic university should bear witness to the truth despite what people say), this is not what makes it chilling.

What makes it chilling is the fact that this university believes it has to do this to be in compliance with EEOC regulations and court decisions that decree that the belief in marriage being between one man and one woman is “discriminatory.” Apparently, the government sees this belief, expressed publicly, is considered harassment. In other words, to publicly express that a thing is morally wrong is speech which can be targeted. As the program states:

“Although employees have free speech rights under the United States Constitution, in academic and other workplaces those rights are limited when they infringe upon another person’s right to work in an environment free of unlawful harassment.”

Of course, the person who thinks they should be allowed to work without having their religious beliefs attacked aren’t covered. The rights of the atheist to mock Christianity in a university is widespread. But the rights of the Christian to say, “This is wrong,” are blocked.

So, it’s a “right” that is similar to the sentiment expressed in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

if someone dislikes what you have to say, you can’t say it—so long as what you say goes against the favored ideologies. So, you’re free to bash religion in public, but presumably a Catholic in a Catholic institution could be accused of harassment for quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church when it states:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,¹⁴¹ tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”¹⁴² They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (2333)

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. (2347)

Our teaching says we cannot mistreat a person—treat him or her as less than human—just because he or she has a same-sex inclination, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept such behavior as morally indifferent. But apparently, speaking out on what is right counts as “unlawful harassment."

What it boils down to is that we no longer have the freedoms of the First Amendment. We have preferred ideologies which are free to say what they want, and unpopular beliefs which will not be tolerated when they speak against the preferred ideology.

That’s kind of troubling. One thinks of how Brendan Eich was forced out of Mozilla because he privately supported the defense of marriage against redefinition by a donation. Mozilla suffered no repercussions for their action, even though Eich’s action was in no way a violation of Mozilla policy. But, on the other hand, a Catholic parish is being sued because they terminated an employee for publicly flaunting their defiance of Church teaching. One wonders if, by 2016, Google (which runs the Blogger sites) might decide that the blogs which speak in a way they disapprove of can be removed because they promote “discrimination.” Perhaps not, but it is part of the same principle—if speech our political and social elites dislike can be labelled “unlawful harassment,” then the limits to what they can get away with are few.

That’s a real problem. Such policies violate freedom—which America is supposed to be based on—in several different ways, but because the targets are unpopular with the cultural elites, they can get away with it..

In terms of the Freedom of Religion, Catholics believe that the Church is given the mission by Christ to preach the Gospel to all nations. This includes teaching about sin and the need for repentance. We cannot be forced to do what we think is evil and we cannot be forced by the government to teach only what they want us to teach. The Constitution, in this respect, recognizes that the government does not have the right to make such demands on a person. But more and more often, we are seeing the government decree (or permit lawsuits) that do make such demands, while denying the rights of the Christians to live as they believe they ought—particularly if they run a business.

In terms of Freedom of Speech, we are seeing amazing hypocrisy. Christians in America are constantly being told that if we don’t like something, just ignore it. But when others hear Christians say or do things they dislike, we’re told to cease and desist. There’s no freedom of speech there. At a bare minimum, we can say, either give us the same freedoms that our critics possess or give them the same restrictions they give us. Otherwise, there is no freedom.

Our rights to petition the government peaceably for grievances are being denied. When we enact laws which promote the shared values of a majority of citizens, the result is unelected courts overturning the laws they dislike—not by a blind equality for both sides, but by an unequal favoritism towards some views.

Now, it is disappointing that Marquette went along with this policy, instead of standing up for what was right. But let’s remember that the symptom of Marquette reflects the real problem—that publicly expressing what we believe is right means we can suffer legal penalties for being obedient to Christ in a way that even the most indifferent person should recognize is a right the Constitution promises and the government ignores.

TFTD: So Now They Change their Demands and Target the Church Directly

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TFTD: Reflection on Advent Through a Sermon by St. Augustine

In his Tractate XII, #14, St. Augustine wrote something rather profound on the need for conversion for everyone, not just the ones guilty of notorious sins. He wrote:

14. Run, my brethren, lest the darkness lay hold of you. Awake to your salvation, awake while there is time; let none be kept back from the temple of God, none kept back from the work of the Lord, none called away from continual prayer, none be defrauded of wonted devotion. Awake, then, while it is day: the day shines, Christ is the day. He is ready to forgive sins, but to them that acknowledge them; ready to punish the self-defenders, who boast that they are righteous, and think themselves to be something when they are nothing. But he that walks in His love and mercy, even being free from those great and deadly sins, such crimes as murder, theft, adultery; still, because of those which seem to be minute sins, of tongue, or of thought, or of intemperance in things permitted, he doeth the truth in confession, and cometh to the light in good works: since many minute sins, if they be neglected, kill. Minute are the drops that swell the rivers; minute are the grains of sand; but if much sand is put together, the heap presses and crushes. Bilge-water neglected in the hold does the same thing as a rushing wave. Gradually it leaks in through the hold; and by long leaking in and no pumping out, it sinks the ship. Now what is this pumping out, but by good works, by sighing, fasting, giving, forgiving, so to effect that sins may not overwhelm us? The path of this life, however, is troublesome, full of temptations: in prosperity, let it not lift us up; in adversity, let it not crush us. He who gave the happiness of this world gave it for thy comfort, not for thy ruin. Again, He who scourgeth thee in this life, doeth it for thy improvement, not for thy condemnation. Bear the Father that corrects thee for thy training, lest thou feel the judge in punishing thee. These things we tell you every day, and they must be often said, because they are good and wholesome.

It’s a good point. It’s easy to focus on the big sins of others. But are we in danger of neglecting the cumulative effect of our own small sins that deaden our consciences and eventually lead to our ruin just as surely as big sins might ruin others?

Advent is a preparation for the coming of Christ in the manger. Advent is also the preparation for Second Coming of Christ. As we prepare for celebrating Christmas, let us also prepare our lives for the return of our Lord.

More Thoughts on Sin and the Sinner

⁹ He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.^{c 10} “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’^{d 13} But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’^{e 14} I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”^f

The standard interpretation of the verses today is to equate the Pharisee with the Church. The fact that she says sins exist and that all are sinners is seen as judging the world while praising herself. That is to miss the point of why the Church exists. The Church doesn’t exist to pick out and exalt the exemplary person while shaming the rest. She exists to carry out Christ’s role of bringing back the Lost Sheep to the fold and the Prodigal Son to the family, each Christian acknowledging his or her own sins. The Christian, properly formed in his or her faith, knows they sin and seeks out Jesus as Savior. The Prayer of St. Ambrose before Mass expresses well how Christians should see themselves:

I approach your banquet table in fear and trembling,
for I am a sinner,
and dare not rely on my own worth,
but only on your goodness and mercy.
I am defiled by many sins in body and soul,
and by my unguarded thoughts and words.
Gracious God of majesty and awe,
I seek your protection,
I look for your healing.
Poor troubled sinner that I am,
I appeal to you, the fountain of all mercy.
I cannot bear your judgment,
but I trust in your salvation.

None of us can approach Our Lord with the attitude of “I am Good, Praise me!” All of us must acknowledge that we do evil and seek His help in repenting from this evil. If we do not recognize that we are sinners, we cannot seek out His healing and His mercy.

Unfortunately, the curse of modern times is the fact that people don’t recognize that they do evil anymore—instead they assume that their sins “aren’t important,” and point to the sins of Christians throughout history as a way of showing their superiority to the Christian. “My sleeping with my boyfriend/girlfriend isn’t as bad as their intolerance!"

It is that charge of “intolerance” as an unforgivable sin” that seems to place the modern person in the category of the Pharisee and not the Tax Collector. The modern person looks at Christianity as hating the person who sins, but this is because the modern person cannot distinguish between the person and the acts they perform—they are seen as one and the same. But Christianity has a view which divides what the world will not divide. G.K. Chesterton expresses this division very well:

A sensible pagan would say that there were some people one could forgive, and some one couldn’t: a slave who stole wine could be laughed at; a slave who betrayed his benefactor could be killed, and cursed even after he was killed. In so far as the act was pardonable, the man was pardonable. That again is rational, and even refreshing; but it is a dilution. It leaves no place for a pure horror of injustice, such as that which is a great beauty in the innocent. And it leaves no place for a mere tenderness for men as men, such as is the whole fascination of the charitable. Christianity came in here as before. It came in startlingly with a sword, and clove one thing from another. It divided the crime from the criminal. The criminal we must forgive unto seventy times seven. The crime we must not forgive at all. It was not enough that slaves who stole wine inspired partly anger and partly kindness. We must be much more angry with theft than before, and yet much kinder to thieves than before. (Orthodoxy, page 175)

The distinction is important. It points out that Christianity recognizes forgiving the sinner always, but never accepting the sinful act as allowable. So, the murderer can be forgiven for his sin, but murder can never be redeemed as a good act. The man is not destined to be a murderer forever. Jesus gives grace to repent and if the sinner chooses to say, “I did wrong,” he can be cleansed of his sin with the admonition to “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). But the choice has to be made—does he reject the sin and repent or does he let the sin define him and refuse to repent? 

Now in cases like murder and rape, we tend to all be in agreement, but I think the problem in the modern West is we don’t want to give up certain sins and resent the implication that we are sinners because of this attachment. We let the sin define us and denouncing the sin is seen as hating the sinner. But that’s the problem. The teaching of Jesus Christ is that all of us are sinners—both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector—and repentance is required if one wants salvation. When the Pharisee praises himself, he does not go away justified. But what if the tax collector praised himself and refused to recognize his sinful actions as sinful? He would not be justified either.

When we look at things this way, I think we see why modern society is in such moral danger today. It defines Christianity as self-righteous in judging others, but it refuses to judge itself. Essentially, modern society stands the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector on its head, saying “I thank you I am not like that Christian!" 

So, that’s the trap. Both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector can repent and be justified because they humbled themselves. But both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector can deny their sins, look down on others and walk away unjustified because they exalt themselves.

Perhaps Advent, less than a week away, would be a good time to reflect on where we individually stand before the Lord.

Forgetting the Meaning of Sin

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