Christianity and torture in America
May 9th 2009 20:47
If aliens were to hear about Christianity it might so happen they could think of it as a faith which talks about love, peace, understanding - you know, if they only read the good excerpts from the bible. And if they skipped the parts about genocide, hate, slavery, misogyny - yea, most of the book. So that's a stretch. Still, if one looks at the words of Jesus and removes them from the rest of the book he comes across as a revolutionary, a man who speaks of justice and love - not a torturer.
You wouldn't know that from his followers, though. Turns out the more religious a person professes to be, the more comfortable they are with the idea of torture as a policy. I wonder how many people are surprised by that-I'm not.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, at www.pewforum.org, says about it's site that it "seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs." It is a respected group that has added insight to topics ranging from global warming to gay marriage to the Pledge of Allegiance and the death penalty. The polls reflect not only religious opinions but secular as well, and give information as to how those groups opinions differ.
In their poll The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate the Pew Forum reports some disturbing and undeniable trends. For categories about the use of torture they selected the following: Can often be justified; Can sometimes be justified; Can rarely be justified; Can never be justified. And of course, the always present don't know/refused to answer, running around 5 percent.
Guess which group was most in favor of torture as national policy? White evangelical Christians. 18 percent said it can often be justified and 44 percent said sometimes. At the other end were those who call themselves unaffiliated, with numbers of 15 percent often and only 25 percent sometimes.
Another telling stat was when the answers were broken down according to how often respondents attended church services. Again, the most "churched' were the most in favor of torture. Those who regularly attend services said often 16 percent and sometimes 38 percent. Those who said they rarely or never attend church services said 12 percent often and 30 percent rarely. Still too high, but less than the faithful.
I think of the bumper sticker WWJD. And I wonder, not what would Jesus do, but what might he think of what is done in his name?
You wouldn't know that from his followers, though. Turns out the more religious a person professes to be, the more comfortable they are with the idea of torture as a policy. I wonder how many people are surprised by that-I'm not.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, at www.pewforum.org, says about it's site that it "seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs." It is a respected group that has added insight to topics ranging from global warming to gay marriage to the Pledge of Allegiance and the death penalty. The polls reflect not only religious opinions but secular as well, and give information as to how those groups opinions differ.
In their poll The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate the Pew Forum reports some disturbing and undeniable trends. For categories about the use of torture they selected the following: Can often be justified; Can sometimes be justified; Can rarely be justified; Can never be justified. And of course, the always present don't know/refused to answer, running around 5 percent.
Guess which group was most in favor of torture as national policy? White evangelical Christians. 18 percent said it can often be justified and 44 percent said sometimes. At the other end were those who call themselves unaffiliated, with numbers of 15 percent often and only 25 percent sometimes.
Another telling stat was when the answers were broken down according to how often respondents attended church services. Again, the most "churched' were the most in favor of torture. Those who regularly attend services said often 16 percent and sometimes 38 percent. Those who said they rarely or never attend church services said 12 percent often and 30 percent rarely. Still too high, but less than the faithful.
I think of the bumper sticker WWJD. And I wonder, not what would Jesus do, but what might he think of what is done in his name?
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Comment by samaritan
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Samaritan's Stories
Although I would like to point out, that just because Christians seem to be (for some strange, bizarre reason that I simply cannot comprehend) more comfortable with torture, doesn't mean that the torture is being down in Jesus' name.
Samaritan
Comment by Randy Inman
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I myself wonder if there are not drugs that can be used to get information from people. I frankly have little issue with waterboarding some high ranking terrorist. But do have a problem with it on anybody they pick up for being in the wrong place at the wrong time so to speak.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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