Why the Faithful Approve of Torture
by: Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | Visit article original @ The Washington Post
The more often you go to church, the more you approve of torture. This is a troubling finding of a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Shouldn't it be the opposite? After all, who would Jesus torture? Since Jesus wouldn't even let Peter use a sword and defend him from arrest, it would seem that those who follow Jesus would strenuously oppose the violence of torture. But, not so in America today.
Instead, more than half of people who attend worship at least once a week, or 54%, said that using torture on suspected terrorists was "often" or "sometimes" justified. White evangelical Protestants were the church-going group most likely to approve of torture. By contrast, those who are unaffiliated with a religious organization and didn't attend worship were most opposed to torture - only 42% of those people approved of using torture.
One possible way to interpret this extraordinary Pew data is cultural. White evangelical Protestants tend to be culturally conservative and they make up a large percentage of the so-called Republican "base". Does the approval of torture by this group demonstrate their continuing support for the previous administration? That may be.
Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/050409N?n
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Thanks for this
Mon, 05/04/2009 - 14:20 — David Spaetheica (not verified)
Thanks for this article. The point in paragraph four, though, makes no sense, because the pain the Jesus endured to "save humanity" has nothing in common with the pain inflicted on those who are (unfairly and illegally) tortured, since the pain of one voluntarily practicing Christianity is wished for, and has "redemptive potential" behind it (it's positive), whereas the torturing of non-Christian "terrorists" is involuntary and does not result in their being "saved." It is merely humiliating, punitive and has no ultimate value other than enjoyment and satisfaction for the (demented) torturer - certainly captive Muslims who are tortured are not elevated religiously (converted) because of their torture! This is sloppy thinking. It's too much thinking, IMO. I think it's fairly obvious that Christians are pro-torture for two reasons: 1) Christianity is not based merely on New Testament content, i.e., it constantly invokes Old Testament "law", which is loaded with themes of religiously justified violence and bitter retribution (against infidels and nonbelievers), and 2) Christians, as undereducated and crass as they prove themselves [to be] again and again, automatically assume that Moslems are [always] the ones being tortured, and for them that's a good thing, an extremely good thing.
Het christelijk geloof dankt zijn ontstaan o.a. uit martelpraktijken. In die tijd was het heel gewoon was om mensen te kruizigen, maar bij jesus werd er een positieve draai aangegeven. (zelfde geldt voor de islam).
anzi
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