GOOD, BASIC PIECE ON CHRISTIANS’ RESPONSE TO DETAINEE-TREATMENT ISSUES:

President Bush faces a defining question of morality on which he has yet to receive any discernible guidance from the faith-based coalition that helped put him in office. The question: whether it is ever right for Americans to inflict cruel and degrading treatment on suspected terrorist detainees. …

I do not know how others would advise the President theologically on these matters, but as a convinced Christian who has tried for 20 years to apply principles of evangelical faith to issues of human rights, here are three principles of a biblical worldview that seem applicable:

* The state has the authority to protect its citizens by detaining criminals and using force to restrain those who seek to destroy innocent life.

* All those whom the state detains retain the image of God and are due a standard of care required by God.

* Because the power of the state over detainees is exercised by fallen human beings, that power must be limited by clear boundaries, and individuals exercising such power must be transparently accountable.

Therefore, even if it is expedient to inflict cruelty and degradation on a prisoner during interrogation (and experts seem very much divided on this question), in my view, the moral teachings of Christ, the Torah and the Prophets do not permit it for those who bear the Imago Dei.

more (via Godspy)

My take here.