Torture and the Christian Right

According to Deroy Murdock, writing in Human Events, "waterboarding is something of which every American should be proud."  An excerpt:

Though clearly uncomfortable, waterboarding loosens lips without causing permanent physical injuries (and unlikely even temporary ones). If terrorists suffer long-term nightmares about waterboarding, better that than more Americans crying themselves to sleep after their loved ones have been shredded by bombs or baked in skyscrapers.

Over at Evangelical Outpost, Joe Carter laments the muted response by conservatives to Murdock's op-ed, which he sees as part of a broader failure by (conservative) Christians to speak up about torture:

Even more disturbing than the idea that a future attorney general doesn't know what's involved in waterboarding is that we live in an age when a familiarity with torture techniques is to be expected of our leaders. How did we get to the point where such a question needs to be asked of an attorney general? Who allowed our country to succumb to such fear and moral cowardice that we parse the the meaning and definition of "torture?"

I blame myself, and implicate my fellow Christians. We have remained silent and treated an issue once considered unthinkable--the acceptability of torture--like a concept worthy of honest debate. But there is no room for debate: torture is immoral and should be clearly and forcefully denounced. We continue to shame ourselves and our Creator by refusing to speak out against such outrages to human dignity.

Evangelical Outpost is the most popular blog out there catering to evangelical Christians, and Mr. Carter has a sizeable platform as a result (he also directs the web presence of Family Research Council).  If he is having second thoughts about the human-dignity trade-offs President Bush has been willing to make in the war on terror, does this signal more problems with the evangelical base for the leading GOP candidates (other than McCain) who have outdone Bush in portraying themselves as ready, even eager, to embrace waterboarding, to "double [the size of] Guantanamo," and to rely on a national security adviser who would "stick a knife into someone's thigh in a heartbeat" if it would elicit information that could save American lives?