An Alternative Approach: Examining Arguments Against Coercive Interrogation Techniques from a Biblical-Ethics Perspective

Abstract

The use of coercive interrogation techniques (CIT) by U.S. military and intelligence personnel in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) has been widely criticized as inherently unethical and synonymous with the term torture. These condemnations have included those from within the Christian community who claim that CIT contradict the ethics of their faith. Considering that Christianity remains the religious tradition for the majority of U.S. military service members, it is a worthy task to examine if a potentially useful tactic in the GWOT is or is not in conflict with Christian ethics. As with all branches of philosophy, the field of ethics includes numerous schools of thought, each with its own chosen axioms. This thesis will analyse these arguments from only one, the ethical system of the Christian faith as it is found in the Bible. The result will be an answer to the question, "Are the use of CIT in the GWOT antithetical to biblical ethics?"

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 10, 2016
Accession Number
AD1020084

Entities

People

  • Eric W. Leetch

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Personnel
  • Chaplains
  • Christianity
  • Department Of Defense
  • Doctrine
  • Human Rights
  • Humanities
  • Interrogation
  • Law
  • Military Personnel
  • Philosophy
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Religion
  • Students
  • United States
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Philosophy

Readers

  • Criminal Law
  • Educational Psychology
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.