Guantánamo Bay has proven itself to be a very large topic in the United States today. For all of you that don't know the issue behind Guantánamo Bay, Guantánamo Bay prison is a prison that currently holds detainees that the government may consider to be harmful to the future of the world; in other words, terrorists. The controversy behind this is two things: one, that there has been confirmed and suspected forms of torture going on in Guantánamo, acts that other countries and the United Nations frown upon, and two, many of the detainees may have no reason of being in the prison other than a government officials gut feeling that, that detainee is a terrorist or an aid to terrorism. This has come to requests and demands of an inspection (or closure) of the said prison. The fact is this is hurting our foreign political status badly.
Aside from our political status, this is hurting us morally as a nation. We're a nation that is against acts of torture (at least our government tries to proclaim it) and promotes freedom of religion. The moral and religious controversy at Guantánamo relates with this. I'm introducing a new type of controversy here: specifically, does a detainee at Guantánamo still hold his or her right to freedom of religion and freedom to practice that religion? Right now, according to recent articles and reports, detainees do not have that freedom and right. Some Muslim prisoners have been forced to be in contact with other women, when their religion states they are not to be in contact with other women other than their wives. Prisoners have lost their ability and right to also practice their religion while detained. This may not be such a proclaimed problem and controversy such as the likes of torture, but it is having huge effects on our foreign status and our values as a nation.
Personally, as a Roman Catholic Christian, I believe prisoners should be given back their rights to their religions. The fact that these prisoners may have committed acts against our country and our people doesn't change the fact that they have rights as a human being. Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay prison have lost all their rights as humans and are under the will of the prison. This is causing a huge sense of hate from countries in the Middle East and giving the United States more and more enemies by the day. Yes, these prisoners may have committed crimes against our countries and deserve to be punished for their actions, but this does not mean they should lose their rights as human beings. In addition to morals this also ties into the logical reasons of imprisonment. One of the main reasons behind punishment for wrong actions is to gain the respect of others and to stop others from committing such acts. Rather than getting respect from terrorists, actions limiting religion and moral values have instead caused hate and an encouragement of anger and acts of terrorism against our country. Well, which one is it, shall we continue to take the rights of others because they have committed evil acts, or should they be allowed their religious rights nonetheless? I certainly believe from both political and moral points of view allowing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay prison religious rights would help our nation.
I do agree that preventing detainees to practices their religion goes against some fundamental beliefs of our nation, but I must ask to what extent are we too allow them to practices such beliefs. A majority of such terrorists are from extremist factions of religion and to allow them to practice certain parts of their beliefs is what brought them there in the first place. Yes we should allow them to practice the common parts of their muslim beliefs, but I disagree that every possible action should be taken to accommodate these prisoners. Keep in mind, they are considered terrorists, not visitors and consequently not all parts should be considered, possible the lack of contact with women since in the traditional Quaran God made men and women spiritually equal as seen in 3:195 it is only in the extreme Hadith do we see such hate. Similarly KKK members who believe the bible states that African Americans are inferior, when placed in prison have no privileges on who they share a cell with. Moreover this has never been a hot topic against their fundamental rights as a human being and I don’t believe it should be. The same should go for the extreme views of some of the detainees.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand where how you may see that detaining potential terrorists in Guantánamo Bay and restricting their rights is not an effective way of dealing with the problem, I think you may be overlooking dangerous individuals detained there who would like nothing more to orchestrate another attack on our country. The plan is to move these high-risk individuals back to prisons in there own countries and continue to protect and keep citizens like you and me safe. So while you are concerned about granting these non-American citizens rights that aren’t even approved for American citizens in prison, I’m more worried about the threat they could cause us if they were to be released. Even though no one should have their religious rights restricted and something should be done for actual citizens rights who are being detained, I have no compassion and don’t feel that non-citizens who are posing a potential threat to my country should be given the same luxuries.
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