Adventist Leadership Misses Torture (Statement)
Given these official, voted statements by the Seventh-day Adventist church:
A Statement on Tolerance
Religious Minorities and Religious Freedom: A Statement of Commitment and Concern
On Being Transformed in Christ—An Affirmation of Christian Values and Quality of Life
A Seventh-day Adventist Call for Peace
and Adventist best-seller The Man Who Couldn’t Be Killed:
“His face was swollen from the beating the
night before. His legs throbbed from standing through endless hours of
interrogation. . .his persecutors thought they had taken away Mr. Wong’s religious freedom.”
Why did the Seventh-day Adventist church NOT join the significant statement in today’s New York Times by the non-partisan National Religious Campaign Against Torture?
Or maybe those Baptists, Evangelicals, Sikhs and Nobel laureates Pres. Jimmy Carter and Elie Weisel are just getting too wimpy.
Just about a month ago, Senator John McCain reminded Adventist leaders that leadership is tied to moral standing.
“Citing recent problems at the Abu Ghraib
prison in
Iraq, McCain, himself a survivor of torture as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton,’ said the nation must do better:
‘Because we hold others to a standard, we must be even more scrupulous
in our own affairs. This does not mean that America has always been
perfect. Nor does it mean that we are perfect today. But we must strive
for perfection, whether it means interrogating enemy detainees in
accordance with our values or treating immigrants as individuals
possessing of certain basic human rights. Only by acting in accordance
with our values can we further the interests we seek abroad.”
Senator McCain has called for an end to American torture. And he backs up his words with works.
Perhaps the remnant leadership should do the same.
If only the Adventist Peace Fellowship wasn’t so works oriented. Just showin’ everyone up.
