Taken from a survey which you can read here. Apparently. . .
The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.
Indeed, the more religious one is (such as being an evangelic), the more likely one believes torture is permissible.
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About shaunmiller
I have just completed a visiting position as an assistant professor at Dalhousie University. My ideas are not associated with my employer; they are expressions of my own thoughts and ideas. Some of them are just musings while others could be serious discussions that could turn into a bigger project.
Besides philosophy, I enjoy martial arts (Kuk Sool Won), playing my violin, enjoying coffee around town, and experimenting with new food.
Shaun Miller's Ideas 
haha, why don’t I find that even slightly surprising? hmm…
This is really skewed. I think for the survey to be ligament then it would need a larger sampling of other religions as well as non-religious people. It seems targeted. Though in the specifics I’m not entirely surprised but I almost doubt that it is based of religious affiliations and instead political views that happen to be common in this particular religion.
True. However, most religious people do tend to be coming from the right on the political spectrum.
So if we got some non-religious people and they showed the torture is ok, then this survey would be bogus.
I wonder if it matters which enemy we are fighting at the time. We are fighting a religion-based enemy that hates Christians. I wonder if the results would be different if we fought a different type of enemy. In other words, I think evangelicals are responding emotionally to what they may perceive as a frontal assault on their belief system and way of life so they are more likely to approve of torture.
But that’s the problem. Most Americans believe that al-Qaeda is a group that hates Christians. They don’t necessarily hate us because of our religion. If we were a completely different religion, they’d still fight us. They hate us because of our politics, American foreign policy, and what they perceive as Western imperialism.
Think of the Cold War. We always called them godless Communists and atheists. It may be true, but the Cold War wasn’t about religion, it was about politics. The same thing is happening here. Of course, religion plays a bigger role here, but they’re using religion as an after-effect, not the cause of their fight.
If evangelicals are responding because they believe its an attack on their religion, they need some education and realize that al-Qaeda isn’t attacking a religion per se, but it’s main priority is attacking Western culture.
I think that the over-lap is definitely there but it isn’t a necessary part of being conservative. Politicians use religion to try and sway the American public. Its the easiest way to hit a wide range of people without looking like they are being inconsistent. It is also unfortunate that its one of the easiest way to round people up and get them to act in a herd mentality. I still think that the survey doesn’t hit enough bases to be irrefutably legitimate, so I’m not surprised but I am skeptical.
i’d like to point out as well that liberal christians (such as my own episcopal denomination) are actually *more* likely than non-religious folk to be *against* torture of any kind in any circumstance.
i think the reports which have discussed this study have vastly skewed already questionable data, and as a devoutly faithful liberal christian, i find it unhelpful and offensive.