Abuse Alleged
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/politics/24abuse.html?th&emc=th
9/25/2005
Summary of article: Three 82nd Airborne officers and NCOs say that abuse was routine
in Iraq, often done for amusement.
A Perspective on Abuse
By Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
9/25/2005
To begin with, I do not believe we have yet degenerated to the state where we are
thirsty for abuse and torture of our fellow man. But, I do believe such behavior
occurs, and I do believe that such behavior illustrates the principle of “pockets
of evil” in a system. And, the more depraved the society, the larger the pockets
can become before detection, enforcement, and elimination function of society applies
a corrective force against these cells of evil. I believe that we as humans are subjected
to the temptations to evil every day, and that human institutions are setup to regulate
and minimize the expression of evil. Nevertheless, pockets of evil can and will form.
If the immune system of righteous judgment is not strong in the society, the pathogen
can spread and infect subsystems, systems, the control systems, and eventually even
the entire body causing its demise. It is against such evil that we struggle, each
of us on our own level of authority.
Provided the allegations are true, and there is little doubt that such behavior happens,
this illustrates why we need to be a nation which has a deep and mature allegiance
to a real Christianity. You have argued that we are a Christian nation, and that
Bush is a Christian, and therefore this type of behavior in Iraq re: torture shows
the impotence of Christianity to stop evil, or the results of being a Christian and
blind to the evil of the leaders out of a slavish loyalty to party, ideal, or a masqueraded
image. It is my assertion that when people have committed their hearts to the Lordship
of Jesus, when they daily push to overcome their own flesh, and resist the temptations
to evil, when they have surrendered their own power to the power of God working inside
their lives, realizing their own frailty as humans, that people are more likely to
overcome the evil in themselves and the evil in their environment. I don’t see a
culture of people working hard to use Godly standards to discriminate between good
and evil on both personal and public levels. I don’t see us supporting that kind
of effort in the media, the political rhetoric, or the general philosophy of education
and parenting.
This particular incident, and most of the things that show up on the political agenda
to criticize one side or the other, is not a problem with Bush or Republicans; this
is a moral problem with our nation. This is what happens when we as a people try
to be own Gods, what happens when people allow their flesh, peer groups, false ideologies
and value systems govern their actions. A mature Christian man who had exercised
his sense of discrimination about issues of proper relationship to self, others,
God and Country, would recognize the errors of giving or taking orders to torture
other people. To demonize Bush, etc. over issues like this is to attribute power
and blame far beyond the ability of a single person or party. People, even in their
best intentions make really bad valuations of priorities. It is easy and tempting
to blame the problem on the Republicans, or some other group that appears to be in
control, but when there is a problem it is always a distorted perception of Truth,
or in the will to follow it.
I was on the college campus in the 60's-70's, in the military in the 70's, and I
lived in rural Texas in the 60's, I know what it is to live among animals. There
are people who are good, people who are bad, but unless the overall culture nourishes,
biases, and directs the society toward righteousness, and the society has a leadership
which is given authority to parent those who are brutes, the bad apples of the group
will act out their animal nature and little will ever change. The police, legal,
welfare, social programs, education systems are blunt tools in containing evil unless
the milieu, the societal environment, presents the ongoing teaching of righteousness
as its expectation, and in all things rehabilitate in the ways of the Lord. Bad apples
can go up the chain of command, and yes the entire organizational system can be twisted
by the influence of evil. Even the Secular Humanist recognizes evil, we all know
it when we see it, we all want it to change and go away, but without an overall healthy
environment nourishing Godliness, the evil culture of self will maintain significant
pockets of influence.
To say that America is great or evil because the Republicans are in power is nonsense,
just as it is obviously wrong to say that simply by changing the party or leader
will make it all better. The power of a political party to shape the hearts of man
by their platforms or policies is limited, but that power should nevertheless be
used for righteousness. The ability and character of a leader is small compared to
the real work of creating a society of a billion points of true light reflecting
God's moral system in their own lives. But still, every leader should be a champion
for placing God on the altar of every man’s heart. To really change the society man
requires a commitment to the righteousness of God on the part of every man. And,
even though it is ultimately the responsibility of the individual, it is helpful
when the society embraces that same goal, acts as the surrogate parent, and reinforces
the teaching and general environment of righteousness. People in general do not learn
unless they are taught, although even in the darkest of societies, a man’s heart
inside still has a glimmer of True Righteousness convicting him from within. Usually
revival of the society comes from a move of the spirit on the land; but usually the
hard heart of humanity needs pain, disaster, and horror to break out of our possession
by pride and self-reliance to come to a place of humility and surrender to God's
way.
The Secular Humanist commitment to equality, justice, compassion and all the higher
qualities of life is wonderful, but it isn’t sufficient to change men’s hearts to
adopt the deep and permanent changes that are necessary to create the world that
you and I both want to show up in life. Anything short of a full-fledged embrace
of the miracle working, transformative power of God in our lives is inadequate. The
full transformation of the human heart cannot take place without surrender to an
authority more powerful and transcendent than a head-knowledge of right and wrong,
or the teaching or study of a philosophy of human goodness. And sadly, we are far
from the embrace of this level of commitment to righteousness in our country. To
look at Bush and Republicans as the source of the problem is to be totally distracted
from examining the causative problem we must face as a nation and world. We need
to take the currently implemented false concept of the “Separation of Church and
State” shackles off of our society, and overtly teach the patterns of righteousness
from the public square, attributing right standards to its true origin, indoctrinating
the youth and shaping the hearts of America's young in Godly Christian values and
our heritage. That may come in time, but probably bad things will happen first to
push us to return to the Christian ideals and commitments of our Founders. In the
meantime, all we can do is personally look inside, clean house at home, give our
hearts and minds totally in dependence to the Lord as our guide, and take responsibility
for being good shepherds of our daily walk.
Thomas
