Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Southern Baptists' top ethicist calls waterboarding `torture'

This is good to see, but a little late in getting in the battle.

Southern Baptists' top ethicist calls waterboarding `torture'


By G. Jeffrey MacDonald - Religion News Service

May 6, 2009

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land, a leading Christian conservative who helped advance the Bush administration's agenda on a range of social issues, said Monday (May 4) that the formerly sanctioned practice of waterboarding of suspected terrorists is torture and "violates everything we stand for."

Land, who is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, repudiated the simulated drowning techniques in an interview with Religion News Service.

According to recently released memos, federal agents under Bush waterboarded two suspected terrorists 266 times in attempts to extract information.

To justify waterboarding on the grounds that it helps save lives is to suggest that ends justify means, Land said, adding: "that is a very slippery slope that leads to dark and dangerous places."
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