a day to look in the mirror

A week from now, Thursday the 10th, is Human Rights Day.  Unfortunately, it seems like it's becoming a day whose cause fewer Americans care about.  Glenn Greenwald notes that a Pew Research Center poll released today indicates that 54% of Americans believe torture is "often" or "sometimes" justified.

Whatever the statistical margin of error for that percentage, it seems clear that about half of us aren't even as concerned about it as was Ronald Reagan when he signed the UN Convention Against Torture.  Ironically, it was his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, who made human rights a key focus of US foreign policy.

Politics aside, it is disturbing that the spiritual state of our nation has regressed to this extent.