Friday, December 15, 2006

Oscar Romero on Torture

Oscar Romero was the archbishop of San Salvador, assassinated while saying Mass in 1980 by death squads angered by his public voice against poverty, social injustice, political killings, and torture in El Salvador at the time. He was also an incredibly eloquent speaker and writer. Here is something he had to say about torture:

"There is no dichotomy between man and God’s image.
Whoever tortures a human being,
whoever abuses a human being,
whoever outrages a human being,
abuses God’s image."

Are you listening George Bush and Dick Cheney? Are you listening Jimmy Akin and all those Catholics who try to provide some "moral space" to defend Bush's torture policies? And where is the voice of the American church in this time of trial? Its silence is almost shameful.

1 comment:

Scott Starr said...

I concur completely.

I think you and I are of the same kind of heart. I have been speaking out more and more on my own blog.

I have also written about Oscar Romero and you can find my posts about it HERE, HERE and HERE.

Oscar Romero was a great man. I have been familiar with the story of his plight since I was a younger man in 1982. Keep it up brother and keep fighting the good fight.