pat loughery

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new analysis.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than 6 in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only 4 in 10 of them did.

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.

via Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive – Churchgoers more likely to back torture, survey finds « – Blogs from CNN.com.

I’ve been reading the current issue of Newsweek, which takes on the issue of torture.  I have to say that my stomach is turning as I read what my country has done to enemy combatants.

After WWII, we prosecuted Japenese soldiers who waterboarded US prisoners; now we argue that these means are necessary because we face(d) a significant threat to our nation.  The Japanese did as well.

If we truly believe ourselves to be a moral leader in the world, we should realize that we’re not living up to our promise.

Who would Jesus torture?  When would Jesus OK simulated drowings, sexual degradation, the violation of religious beliefs or a hundred other tactics that we’ve used in order to gain information?

Is the safety of our Christian Nation (he says, not believing that term for an instant) more important than our national morality?

Who would Jesus torture? And why, as the CNN survey above notes, why are Christians the most likely to OK torture?

Have we read the words of Jesus?  Do we remember that he was the torturee, not the torturer?  Do we recognize that he was executed for political treason?

Who would Jesus torture?

I’m having a hard time coming up with a list to answer that question.