I tend to be leery of calls for groups of people to repent of things that they did not personally do and for which they were not personally responsible. If there had been a national referendum listing the various enhanced interrogation techniques that could be employed and then to check off those permitted to be used, then perhaps those who voted yes for certain techniques should repent for giving permission.
It seems to me that repentance is always a personal thing. I repent for what I did wrong in thought, word or deed. Can I repent for someone else? It seems to me that is a cop out and a cheat. If I repent for what others did, I can feel virtuous for being repentant and still point the finger at them for doing wrong. It is also another expression of what has become a national debate ploy - collective guilt. If I can be classed as part of a group and certain members of that group commit certain wrongs, then must I bear guilt for those wrongs? I am white. Does that mean that as a white man I bear guilt and need to repent for slavery? If I bear guilt for slavery, does that mean that I personally should bear some punishment for slavery? Even though neither I nor any of my family or ancestors were in any way involved in slavery? But I am a member of the white group and some whites enslaved blacks so therefor I bear guilt?
Does it work the other way? Some Blacks have brutally killed whites. Does that mean that all Blacks bear guilt for that? I don't think so and I doubt that you would get very far with that argument.
I think that this whole call for national repentance is a red herring and if pursued will side track us from effective and meaningful response. What is needed is not so much national repentance, but national reflection on what got us to this point. What led the leadership of the United States to pursue terrorists using torture? Was it moral? Was it effective? If we decide that pursuing the policies that included the torture reported is wrong, how do we prevent it is the future? What should we do about the instances of torture that occurred? On both a national and personal level, how did the individual reactions to the attacks on 9/11 contribute to a climate that permitted torture, and how can we manage the shock, grief and anger that arise from such attacks into more constructive actions?
Or to put it another way, I do not see this as an occasion for which we bear collective guilt and thus in need of national repentance. (I don't believe in collective guilt.) I see this as an occasion for which we bear collective responsibility to decide if our leaders acting in our name did wrong, to make any injustices right, and to work toward preventing such actions in the future.
We also bear a responsibility to work toward just and effective policies to deal with threats and attacks in a responsible way, not simply acting out of fear or anger.
Dan
