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Religious tend to support torture more often

SouthernDemocrat said:
Religious people are statistically more likely to support torture because evangelicals tend to be conservative and nationalist. Nationalists are much more apt to support the actions of their government when its deemed necessary for defense.
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Read the latter part of that article: it's actually the more "mainstream" Protestants that are more likely to support torture and the evangelicals are less inclined to.
 
Nigga NoCa$h said:
Read the latter part of that article: it's actually the more "mainstream" Protestants that are more likely to support torture and the evangelicals are less inclined to.
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You are mistaken:

The religious group most likely to say torture is never justified was Protestant denominations -- such as Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians -- categorized as "mainline" Protestants, in contrast to evangelicals.
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This makes sense as mainline protestants tend to be more moderate to liberal and more concerned with social justice / peace / poverty, while evangelicals tend to be more conservative and more nationalist.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
You are mistaken:



This makes sense as mainline protestants tend to be more moderate to liberal and more concerned with social justice / peace / poverty, while evangelicals tend to be more conservative and more nationalist.
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Oh, damn, you're right! I misread that. Sorry, but I'm still in the throes of a rather brain-addling flu.

And, it's true about the mainstream denominations because I happen to get free meals from Episcopalians and Lutherans and they are very tolerant and don't force sermons on us, and in fact I believe the Episcopal church has a gay pastor.
 
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I like how a poll of a few hundred WHITE people is being used to define entire denominations.
Kinda funny how that works with Christianity but not Islam......
Oh and Whites but not blacks, hispanics, asians, etc....
 
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Triad said:
I like how a poll of a few hundred WHITE people is being used to define entire denominations.
Kinda funny how that works with Christianity but not Islam......
Oh and Whites but not blacks, hispanics, asians, etc....
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I fail to see how a person who can read and understand clear and plain English has arrived at such a conclusion. It not only isn't stated or implied in the article but it isn't in the Pew Research Center survey documentation, either. Not only that, but their description of their survey methodology doesn't indicate any cause for a strong ethnic cultural bias:
Pew Research Center said:
The typical Pew Research Center for the People & the Press national survey selects a random digit sample of both landline and cell phone numbers in the continental United States...

...The sample is then weighted using population parameters for all households with adults 18 years of age or older from the U.S. Census Bureau. The parameters for age, education, race/ethnicity, and region are from the Current Population Survey's March 2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement and the parameter for population density is from the Decennial Census...
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Nigga NoCa$h said:
What does that have to do with anything I said?

That is what we students of logic call a straw man, because you are bringing up something entirely different and placing into the argument and attacking it, rather than actually refuting my assertion.

And, what does being socially or politically liberal or conservative have to do with acknowledging foreign policy blunders?
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Is this thead about foreign policy, or religious people?
 
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joko104 said:
I suspect who has tortured and mass murdered more people were atheists such as Stalin, Mao, Hitler...

nice try at supporting religious bigotry though.
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I suspect has religion had the means those other guys had, they would have done well more damage. Hitler wasn't exactly an atheist either. And none of those people killed in the name of atheism.
 
Ikari said:
I suspect has religion had the means those other guys had, they would have done well more damage. Hitler wasn't exactly an atheist either. And none of those people killed in the name of atheism.
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Sorry, this is pure speculation.
 
American said:
Sorry, this is pure speculation.
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Yeah...cause they totally weren't out after certain groups like in the Crusades and Inquisitions....right? Totally not. They only killed the absolute smallest possible and wouldn't have used technology to secure victory by utterly destroying their foe; would they? Nope, pure speculation...not based on anything like theocratic war and history and human nature. Nope...just pure speculation.
 
Ikari said:
Yeah...cause they totally weren't out after certain groups like in the Crusades and Inquisitions....right? Totally not. They only killed the absolute smallest possible and wouldn't have used technology to secure victory by utterly destroying their foe; would they? Nope, pure speculation...not based on anything like theocratic war and history and human nature. Nope...just pure speculation.
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That's right pure speculation, and you're veering way off topic now by trying to apply the Crusades to modern Christians.
 
Orius said:
This was a pretty interesting read.

Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful - CNN.com

The statistics show that the more often you attend church... the more likely to support torture. When I read this I found it interesting but not surprising. Thoughts?
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What should one think about a bull**** survey intended to impugn those of Christian faith? Its more of the typical BS we get from a media that is more like the National Enquirer and a branch of the White House than an organization that REPORTS NEWS in an unbiased way trying to keep its readers informed.

The analysis is based on a Pew Research Center survey of 742 American adults conducted April 14-21. It did not include analysis of groups other than white evangelicals, white non-Hispanic Catholics, white mainline Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated, because the sample size was too small. See results of the survey.

The president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Leith Anderson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The survey asked: "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?"

How can anyone take CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, the New York Times, LA Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune or Washington Post seriously any more?
 
WillRockwell said:
I think a lot of it has to do with the Christian tendency to embrace torture as an article of faith, as witnessed by the huge success of the movie "Passion of the Christ", which revelled in the supposed torture of Jesus. After seeing what their Savior went through, Christians would consider waterboarding a leisure activity.
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:rofl .....yeah that's it. :rofl
 
MrVicchio said:
WARNGING the following contain: General rule here folks, if it doesn't apply to you personally, good for you.
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Please refrain from making stupid generalizations, even if you preface them with "Hey, I'm about to make a blanket statement so don't get pissed."
 
Hatuey said:
What is more Christ-like then torture? Honestly come on now. Christ would be the one filling up a bucket of water and setting up the ironing board.
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:rofl The only thing more amusing than your tortured logic is this:


The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Hatuey For This Useful Post:
ADK_Forever, Intransigent Atheist


:rofl
 
danarhea said:
Religious, atheist, Communist, Capitalist, Catholic, Protestant, Islamist, barbarian, civilized....

Have nothing to do with supporting torture. Supporting torture has more to do with the dark side of human nature itself.
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Yet no one has ever supported "torture." They have supported enhanced interrogation techniques that do cause severe physical or mental harm when used against ADMITTED terrorists to obtain critical information that could save innocent lives.

I am continually fascinated with the LIBERAL lies and distortions regarding this issue and how "self proclaimed" Conservatives like you so willingly parrot such uninformed rhetoric.

:shock:
 
Hatuey said:
It was mostly a joke. Calm down.
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So you think blathering a forum thread with nonsensical remarks is somehow productive and amusing?

Your comment was offensive and could hardly be considered as a "joke" because it mirrors your views of Christians; for something to be funny, it has to be OBVIOUS in its irony.

In your case, it is more in line with your previous inane assertions about religion. Your desperate efforts to suggest this was intended to be “humor” offensive as that is even, can only be believed by the gullible. I guess Captain Courtesy is first in that line.

:roll:
 
Truth Detector said:
So you think blathering a forum thread with nonsensical remarks is somehow productive and amusing?

Your comment was offensive and could hardly be considered as a "joke" because it mirrors your views of Christians; for something to be funny, it has to be OBVIOUS in its irony.

In your case, it is more in line with your previous inane assertions about religion. Your desperate efforts to suggest this was intended to be “humor” offensive as that is even, can only be believed by the gullible. I guess Captain Courtesy is first in that line.

:roll:
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zomg-you-ve-won-internet.gif
 
Religious tend to support torture more often.

How does an atheist like myself fit in?
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
I have problems with the study. Just because one attends religious services, does not mean they are religious. I have not attended a religious service in 20+ years, and am still one of the most religious people I know...and people who know me would agree.

Nextly, we here at DP have been arguing the definition of torture for a couple of years in many threads and still haven't come to a consensus. Since we are, obviously, the most enlightened folks (or at least most of us) around, I doubt that Pew Research would have solidified a definition, if we here at DP can't. :2razz:

Lastly, a small sample size, and the fact that evangelicals, the more extremist of religions seem to be skewing the statistics all mar the data.

I don't take this information very seriously.
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My issues as well. The first thing I thought of was "what was their definition of torture".

If I got called and was asked if I support flaying skin off people, systematically raping someone, or shoving bamboo under ones finger nails I'd say unequivically "no" whether you told me they were guilty and had information or not.

If I got a call asking if I supported waterboarding, massive sleep deprivation, or other forms of "mental torture" you'd probably get a "maybe" or even a "yes" from me depending on the situation you presented me if you told me they were guilty and had information or not.

If you called talking about people being kept in relatively small spaces, given only the most basic in food and water, not allowed to have their religious texts to read, didn't get to go outside often, got slapped in the face occasionally, or were yelled at I'd say "yeah, no issue".

"Torture" as its used now is so broad its hard to ask like that. Its like asking "Would you ever kill someone?". In cold blood? No. In defense of my country? Likely. In protecting my family? Without question. If I was starving, I'd hop enot but hard to answer that. If it was Hitler, yeah probably. If it was Nancy Pelosi, no, though I'd snicker at the thought of back handing her. Its ambiguous and poor for giving an actual useful poll.
 
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