Poll – Evangelicals Support Torture

In a newly-released poll, the attitudes of churchgoers and non-churchgoers toward torture of prisoners are contrasted.

The recent Pew Research Center poll studied 742 Americans. Of these were separated out “white evangelicals”, “white mainstream Protestants”, “white Catholics”, and “religiously unaffiliated”.

They were asked how often they attend services, and then 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?” Torture was not defined, but may be understood from recent news reports to include pouring water onto their faces, making them stand still, and dressing them in itchy wool sweaters. Basically, making them uncomfortable.

Of those who attend services seldom or never, only 42% thought making terrorists uncomfortable was often or sometimes justified! 40% of the “unaffiliated” group shared this position.

In contrast, 6 out of 10 white evangelicals believe that torture is a good idea. Why do you suppose there’s a difference?

Is it because evangelicals assume guilt sooner? Is it because the non-religious are more likely to understand that torture often produces little or no valuable intelligence data? Or is it something else?

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Jean Poole

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