The More Frequently You Attend Church, The More Likely You Are to Support Torture

A recently published poll shows a correlation between church attendance and a support for torture.

Well this is curious. According to a Pew Research Center poll released last week, the more frequently one attends a religious service, the more likely it is that one approves of torture. Currently, about half the country supports some form of torture, so long as it is "justified."

The survey, which was conducted from April 14-21, included 742 American adults. They were asked the question, "Do you think the use of torture against suspected
terrorists in order to gain important information can often be
justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified, or never be
justified?"

The results are shocking, as they completely contradict church doctrine.  Those most likely to support torture are white evangelical protestants. I realize that, technically, torture victims aren’t being killed, and technically this doesn’t contradict an evangelical’s "pro-life" stance, but I thought inherent in their belief system was a respect for all life, and an aversion to cruelty. I guess torture now falls into the same category as the death penalty. "Love thy neighbor," indeed.

Andrew Sullivan wrote an excellent response to the poll, featuring a video clip of the trailer from "The Passion of the Christ," and stating,

One wonders how many times evangelical preachers have inveighed against
the evil of someone like me getting a civil marriage license compared
with acts of cruelty inflicted on defenseless human beings in American
custody. But one also sees the impact of a Catholic hierarchy more
exercized on these social issues than on a categorical evil defended
proudly by a former vice-president. 

He’s right; what’s infuritating is that evangelicals have been using their stiff religious doctrines to oppose select parts of society they dislike or misunderstand; yet so many have easily and selfishly abandoned these very beliefs out of primal fear.

See the graphic breakdown for the poll below.