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Chesterton Answers the Advocates for Torture

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Let's torture the torturers and eat the cannibals.

99 years ago, G. K. Chesterton wrote an article in the Illustrated London News that answers the question we keep hearing today.

"Why can't we torture terrorist prisoners?!" confused Catholics are asking.  "We'll be at a disadvantage if we don't!  God knows they'd do it to us!  We need to fight fire with fire!"

Chesterton, of course, on June 5, 1915, was writing about World War I (which was then in full swing) and not the War on Terror, but he's writing as much for America today as he was for England a century ago.  Some excerpts (my emphases) ...

If we were at war with the King of the Cannibal Islands, these people would say that our Admirals ought to eat their prisoners.  At least, they show no perception of any intellectual principle that could save them from such a conclusion.  It does not seem to dawn on them that we do not eat savages ... because we are not savage.  We do not swallow human gore for the same reason that we do not swallow slavery and humiliation: because they make us sick. ...
... Should [we] poison wells because the Germans poisoned them?  And, if not, why not?  The real reason, of course [is this] ... we should not refrain out of respect for Germans, but out of respect for ourselves. ...
 ... We are fighting for human self-respect: we cannot possibly lose what we are fighting for, even in order to fight better.  ... We do not and cannot make our salvation consist solely in our success.  We do not and cannot think of defeat as the worst thing possible, any more than we can think of war as the worst thing possible.  ...
They said in the Middle Ages, I think, that the Devil was the ape of God.  It must not be said in any ages that we were the apes of the Devil. ...

The essay is not available online, but is one of many in Volume 30 of the Collected Works, available from The American Chesterton Society.


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Comments

Anonymous said…
I am a well educated Catholic, I have struggled with this topic and searched for a principle upon which to guide my thoughts. I strongly feel.... yes I said feel (leaves room for growth) that in this age of WMD... if a terrorist is captured and there is reasonable suspicion of involvement and knowledge of critical information that would save 1,000,000 of lives... torture the beast... I love Chesterton's wisdom and trust his thoughts more than mine.... I must pray.
May 9, 2014 at 8:52 PM
Kevin O'Brien said…
Anonymous, there is nothing to struggle or search about. Catholic teaching is clear. We may not do evil so that good may come. And men are not beasts - and we must never forget that Christ died for beasts like you and me.

“I reiterate that the prohibition against torture cannot be contravened under any circumstances.” - Benedict XVI.

And as Chesterton points out, we are fighting for civilization against barbarism. If we act like barbarians, we have lost the war, even if we win the battle.
May 9, 2014 at 8:59 PM
Anthony Migchels said…
C'mon.....Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush were the real terrorists and there would hardly be any without the American Empire.
May 10, 2014 at 5:11 AM
Kevin O'Brien said…
There's plenty of torture and terrorism to be found outside of the USA, Anthony.
May 10, 2014 at 11:35 AM
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