In the early 4th Century A.D., the Emperor Diocletian was, as it turns out, not a big fan of Christianity. A conservative by nature, Diocletian wasn’t a fan of having his animal sacrifices being interrupted by Christians and their radical anti-animal sacrifice views. This resulted in a private dispute between Diocletian and one of his generals over the matter. Diocletian believed that it was sufficient to simply expel Christians from the government and military. His general, on the other hand, accused Diocletian of being a bleeding heart liberal and demanded the extermination of all Christians.

St. Augustine

There was only one way to settle the matter. A visit to the Oracle of Apollo. The Oracle provided a vague and ambiguous response to the Emperor, which naturally led to the conclusion that Christianity had to be driven from the Empire. Churches were burned, Christians were murdered in horrible yet surprisingly creative ways, and copies of Christian teachings were destroyed.

Naturally, there were many Christians who were keen on avoiding being tortured to death. These Christians made oaths to local Roman officials that they were not Christians. They turned in scriptures so they could be destroyed. They even turned in other Christians in order to save their own skins.

After a few years, though, this wave of persecution ended, Constantine became emperor, and Christianity became the official religion of the Empire. The danger now safely passed, the Christians who had renounced their faith, burned scripture, and turned in other Christians to be killed approached the Church and asked for their old jobs back. As Priests and Bishops. The Chruch, being a forgiving institution, allowed this to happen.

As you might expect, this did not sit too well with faithful Christians who had never renounced their religion, much less turn in their fellow Christians to the authorities. Among the leaders of these Christians was Bishop Donatus Magnus, the Bishop of Carthage. Magnus became the leader of these Christians, who came to be called Donatists.

The Donatists believed that those Priests who had betrayed their faith during the time of persecution were not fit to be clergy without a re-baptism and lengthy penance. Without that, they claimed, unrepetant priests could not rightly perform the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.

The Donatists surged for a few decades in North Africa, but eventually they were thelogically defeated by Augustine of Hippo. Augustine argued that it was the institution of priest that performed the Sacraments, not the priest himself. Thus, regardless of how that priest behaved during the time of persecution, his performance of the Sacraments was still valid. Bishop Donatus Magnus was eventually stripped of office and exiled for daring to suggest that priests who had denied their faith shouldn’t be allowed to keep being priests.

The United States of America is currently facing a similar situation to that faced by the 4th Century Christian Church. Over the past eight years, it has become increasingly clear that the Bush Administration knowingly and willingly violated both domestic and international law. They allowed for the inhumane treatment of detainees, denied due process, and authorized the use of torture in interrogations. In this effort, the Bush Administration was supported by some members of the military, Congress, and the Justice Department. Some within the government who opposed these measures were punished.

This shameful history represents a violation of fundamental American principles. The American way of government is founded upon the notion of the rule of law–a principle flagrantly violated in the past eight years. Moreover, the American tradition of the moral and humane treatment of prisoners, instituted by George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Contiental Army and a guiding light to American diplomatic efforts over the past two centuries, was fundamentally betrayed.

In response to these actions, Preisdent Obama’s reaction has been much closer to Augustine’s than Magnus’. He has claimed that he has no desire to have any criminal investigation of torture allegations, explaining instead that:

This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America’s ability to right its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence.

This is a direct echo of the 4th Century Church and Augustine’s focus on the institution, rather than the individual, and their refusal to get rid of priests simply for betraying everything the Church was supposed to stand for.

Indeed, this echo gets louder when we consider that Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who has become Obama’s choice to run the war in Afghanistan, is himself deeply implicated in the abuse and torture of detainees in a prison he oversaw in Iraq. Torture and abuse that, I might add, allegedly took place after the Abu Gharib scandal and after such methods were supposedly no longer being used.

Obama’s position that we have to “move forward” and not bother with criminal investigations is a fundamental betrayal of American value and traditions, just as Augustine’s work to protect priests who had betrayed their fellow Christians was. Let us not make the mistake of Constantine and the Roman Church, which valued officies and institutions above individual responsibility and accountability.

When it comes to investigation the war crimes of the Bush Administration, let’s embrace Donatism, and hold that American ideals are more important than institutions or politicans.