The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.In modern America, the unchurched clearly have more respect for basic human rights than white evangelical Protestants:
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.Southern Baptists are far and away the largest white evangelical Protestant denomination in America.
All those predictions by the Southern Baptist takeover leaders that they were ushering in another "Great Awakening" have been proven false. They ushered in a "Great Disgrace."
4 comments:
I did a series last year on Christians and current events. We started our discussion with Campolo and Mclaren's book "Adventures in Missing the Point." After we finished the book, I added studies on other topics like war and torture. Our pastor was in the classes we taught on torture, and we could not believe that the vast majority of the class believed there was nothing wrong with torture. While they "said" they did not believe the ends justify the means, they said if American lives were saved it was worth it, and there were some people who were very offended when I asked "Who would Jesus torture?"
We left the class emotionally exhausted, discouraged, and angry.
Gil,
Thanks for sharing this experience.
This is indeed a very discouraging, maddening, and emotionally exhausting trend.
I'm wondering what it is about evangelical protestants that makes them so prone to condone that which we condemn. Could it be that they believe in a theological conception of an all-loving Heavenly Father who has prepared a lake of fire for all who fail to believe as they do? Seems to be that such a belief must make all temporal forms of torture (especially those involving mere water instead of fire) seem fairly tame by comparison.
Alternatively, it could be the emphasis on unquestioning faith as opposed to questioning authority.
Most like, it is a bit of both.
Damion,
I think you're right on both counts.
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