I saw a snide comment where someone was flaming an atheist about the torture report, because atheists don’t have morals, so why would we care? Yeah, that old saw. Being an atheist is easy, if you’re quiet about it online and off. I’m not and this time of year I do ask for any holiday contributions you might have handy. This site would not be able to function without the generosity of readers and it’s the time of year I always ask. As we atheists and skeptics also celebrate the holidays.

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It’s true that there have been religious leaders who stood up against torture. Makes sense, in fact you’d think it would be all of them since Christian theology is based around Jesus being tortured to death! So it was nice to see, on the heels of a report released by the Senate, leaders from several denominations, including the Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic churches, issued statements deploring the use of torture.

Catholic Herald — The Rev Susan T Henry-Crowe, general secretary of the United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, concluded that the report’s findings “shock the conscience.” She called for actions that respect life as a gift from God in condemning any government-sanctioned practices that violate moral teachings.

The Rev A Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches, said he was grieved that “in our name others were tortured.” “May God give us the moral courage to never again betray the core principles that have guided our nation as a leader in the struggle for human rights,” he added.

That’s good to hear. Meanwhile, there are plenty of ugly tweets and posts by sources sympathetic to religion, mostly the conservative variety we know all too well, making all kinds of wild statements across social media. Yesterday, a Fox News host waxed enthusiastically about how awesome America is because we tortured and then quit torturing. Which by the way was done when Obama took office, no doubt Fox avoided making that awesome point …

There were (and still are) white supremacists and slave owners who were not only religious, they used their religion to justify owning and using human beings like farm machinery. They had sympathetic voices preaching it from the pulpit. Conversely, many of the abolitionists and, later, civil rights leaders who opposed them likewise based much of their views and actions on religious belief. They had sympathetic voices preaching civil rights from the pulpit. For that matter you can find no end of justification for the Holocaust based in perverse theologies and people who protected victims of the Nazis for religious motives.

I haven’t yet read about any atheists excusing or cheering torture, but given the law of large numbers there are probably some who do or did. I know many bloggers at FTB have written about it and condemned it repeatedly. Somehow they and millions of other skeptics found the morals to do so without a belief in God or gods long before this report came to light.

That’s the thing about religion. It’s malleable. Just like people. And just like atheism and every other human endeavor. But I’m glad to see those statements from religious folks and welcome their support on this ugly issue.