As we begin to uncover and bring to light the injustices of the program of torture practiced in the name of Freedom and Liberty and paid for with our tax dollars, I keep thinking about that Palestinian Jewish activist who was tortured by the Romans and hung on a cross because they thought he was going to declare himself King of the Jews.
Dark haired, probably bearded...he hung out with all kinds of suspicious characters and low lifes. A rabble rouser who drew large crowds and terrorized the moneychangers in the temple.
Would the so-called Christians who are in the Congress and on the right wing of our politics rationalize His torture ?? Would it be seen as being somehow justified because He was suspiciously subversive to the colonial power of Rome and disrespectful and disruptive to the leaders of His own people??
Would they rail at His socialist policies toward the poor and mock his joblessness? Would they say that all He had accomplished in His life were good speeches? Would they whisper about His lack of a wife and His consorting with all those men? Would He be considered someone who resorted to class warfare, when He speculated on the chances of rich men getting to heaven?
Would they demean the teenage pregnancy of His mother and snicker at what seemed like a shotgun marriage between His parents?
Would they moralize about his lack of character and His never having a real job, living on the public dole and summing it up, feel as if He deserved the treatment He received, for after all, it was the duty of Rome and good men like Pontius Pilate to keep us safe? It was a pre-emptive act, meant to identify emerging terrorists and threats to the great Empire...and therefore....justified.
Just thinking...