Isn't it ironic - dontcha think?

I was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC today - as I am wont to do - and the eponymous host was in fine form today, this time revisiting a favorite them of his: the efficacy of torture. I was going to less this pass by unremarked, except for this sequence of events:

• The show went to break over the strains of an old rock tune that I am familiar with and yet uncertain of
• I immediately paused the TiVo and hit the internet, in search of enlightenment
• A search on the partially heard lyrics: "at the party she was kindness in the hard crowd" led me to a really excellnt online book site called: Reason to Rock; and the song, "White Satin" by the artist, Cream
• An exploration of the rest of the site revealed a discussion on another oldie but goodie - the Rolling Stones song, "Sympathy for the Devil".

This is a great site. by the way; I love the exposition of the songs discussed herein. And I as began to read over "Sympathy for the Devil", I kept seeing more and more parallels (from the mockery the Devil made of Jesus to the vilification that He endured from the authorities of the day) with things going on today - especially concerning these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the willingness of so many Americans to support the torture of our fellow human beings.

And that started me to think: why do Christians - who mourn the martyrdom of our Lord and Saviour - find the concept of torture to be so irresistible?

How is it that we Christians - who are seemingly so devout in our prayers and who most recently saw a film that recounted the tale of our Lord's crucification in gruesome detail - have forgotten how He was tortured and taunted, how He was pressed so mightily to reveal His divine nature before His accusers?

And how have we forgotten that all of the torture came to naught?

By what process have the sons and daughters of Christ become the legions of Roman centurions, blindly following the dictates of a second-rate Caesar into treating "the least of these" as though they were beneath us?

We have lost our way as Christians and as Americans, if we believe that we can save ourselves through the mistreatment of others.

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