Torture - Yes, No, Maybe

I happened upon a blog (Experimental Theology) by Richard Beck, an Associate Professor and experimental psychologist at Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX. The term experimental theology is intriguing so I decided to check on what is being written. It has been on my blog list for a couple of months, but as Dr. Beck was in the midst of another theological discussion I decided to wait until a new topic surfaced. Today was the day and the subject is "Christians and Torture: Part 1, The Pew Report" (link to Beck's blog).

The use of torture is anathema to me. I find it difficult to understand why torture is used, but let me include an excerpt from the Pew research and from Beck's blog. The question asked by the Pew Research Center (link to Pew Report) is:

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 outcome is as follows as shown in Beck's blog:

"49% of the total US population felt that torture can often or sometimes be justified. When this population trend was broken down by religious demographic the following trends emerged. First, 62% White evangelical Protestants said torture can often or sometimes be justified. This is an increase of +13% in pro-torture sentiment for people who ostensibly serve a Lord who said 'Love your enemies'. "

Beck went on to say:

A similar trend emerged when church attendance was examined. Fifty-four percent of people who attend religious services "at least weekly" said that torture is often or sometimes justified. That is a +5% increase over the national average. This difference might not be much but it's downright embarrassing, morally speaking, given that only 42% of people who "seldom or never" attend religious worship services saw torture as often or sometimes justified. That is, religious people were +12% more in favor of torture than the irreligious. Translated into my religious tradition, this means Christians were more in favor of torture than non-Christians.

I find this very disturbing. Perhaps this is why I have tended to steer away from organized religion except for individual churches that are more liberal and have tolerance of differences in people. This report by the Pew Center reinforces what I have long suspected.

It will be interesting to see what these students at Abilene Christian decide when they answer Dr. Beck's question:

"...what's going on here? Is this all just about politics? Or is there something about religious people, Christians in particular, that make them pro-torture?"

It's darn scary!