XPost: alt.religion.christian, alt.religion.christian-teen, alt.   
   eligion.christian.adventist   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.baptist   
   From: saul_sabia@yahoo.com   
      
   Rafael_Leyre@yahoo.com (Rafael Leyre) wrote in message news:...   
      
   > Laws exist also within dictatorships. Imagine a dictator having a law   
   > passed that everyone who criticizes the regime commits the crime of   
   > high treason, and deserves capital punishment. This is no fantasy. It   
   > happened many times during the twentieth century, within regimes at   
   > the left and at the right, and among friends of the West as well as   
   > among its enemies.   
      
   it also happened within the christian religion many times. hell, it happens   
   now, inside the christian denominations, although usually nowadays the   
   'heretic' or dissenter won't be put to death.   
      
      
   > Now imagine an oppositon group from the same country forming a   
   > 'government in exile'. This government will necessarily regard itself   
   > more legitime than the dictator in power, and will feel no restraint   
   > to handel its enemies the same way they are treated by the justitional   
   > institute of the dictatorship. They will find an excuse to shoot or   
   > bomb in the streets whoever they decide. This also happens repeatedly.   
      
   not necessarily. don't confuse a legitimate government with terrorists.   
      
      
   > It's like torture. It is well possible to imagine a situation in which   
   > torture of a villain by a righteous governement is the best option   
   > available (for example if its a terrorist who knows where a biological   
   > bomb is hidden). But if we ever leave the basic position that torture   
   > is definely unacceptable, we open the gate to the worst medieval   
   > practices (which already seep through everyday!).   
      
   that's like saying that sex can be bad, so we shouldn't have sex at all!   
      
   torture is, and can be, a very powerful tool in very select circumstances.   
   i don't think anyone advocates its use unconditionally, or even generally.   
   however, sometimes it is necessary (very very rarely... there better be   
   a damn good reason for it!). saying that doesn't mean that all hell will   
   break loose, and that people will tortured for any reason at all, though!   
      
      
   Saul Sabia   
   saul_sabia@yahoo[o].com   
      
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