DOES THIS SURPRISE ANYONE? 5.1.09
by SteveWASHINGTON (CNN) — The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.
More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.
RSS
Some Christians are very un-Christlike…
I guess the truth is that we all are. But you would think there could be unanimity on this particular issue. How can the “what would Jesus do” crowd think torture is acceptable????
It’s the ‘us versus them’ mentality. But we are all ‘us’ and there are no real ‘them’ on this planet. We are all on the same side of humanity. Perhaps we need to start asking folks to pray for their ‘enemies’ instead of torturing them; and let’s stop thinking of anyone as an enemy, while we’re at it. Pray for everyone to do what is right and good for people, not political entities.
Steve, I ran across this gentleman’s antics twice today, so I must share them. They illustrate how we can expand our idea of who ‘us’ is to include the ‘global village.’
First, the ‘This I Believe’ podcast. Please go to iTunes and find NPR podcasts. Find ‘This I Believe,’ the episode from 3/30 ‘Dancing to Connect to a Global Village.’ Then the videos, find them at http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/about.shtml. Great fun.