Torture

I read this article today—after watching this video—and the thought struck me that for all our self–flagellation in the US press over the torture that occurred at Abu Ghraib Prison at the hands of US troops, we don't really have any sense of what torture is. There are many places in this world where imprisonment means a life of bitter torture—not just extreme humiliation.

Of course, neither is right. I am not excusing what happened at Abu Ghraib. However, there are people in prison today throughout Near-, Middle- and Far-Eastern lands who are suffering not because they attempted to hurt others, but because they dared to ask questions or to believe that God exists and reigns above all earthly masters.

Michael Medved once wrote that "America is bizarrely blessed." I concur that it has been. However, both the article and video unmask what can happen when a country sheds the conviction of 'old fashioned' ideals—such as a belief in absolute truth, a sense of right and wrong, honesty as a virtue, and acknowledgment of a loving God who sees all, who knows all, and who is over all.

As we cede the compass of our nation over to those who do not agree with the principles upon which it was founded, I think we must make a close inspection of those nations which have attempted to deny God altogether and replace Him with an alternate supreme ruler or political party.

Think it sounds like an unrealistic and remote possibility here in the freest nation on earth?

Don't count on it.