Noted without comment: "Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful"
From the article:
The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to
support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.
.....
White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified.
.....
White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified.
Fact is, church pews are filled with those who ‘need’ the threat of “hell fire and brimstone” and the promise of some…fantastical reward (Everlasting Life) to make them behave like decent human beings and treat ‘others’ with kindness instead of contempt. Then there are those of us who simply acquired the trait via the course of our genetic evolution from highly social primates. Happy 200th Darwin.
Posted by: Kevin | May 02, 2009 at 02:24 AM
Surveys can have a lot of errors depending on the sample population of the respondents. 742 is a very small sample for the US population and thus this research has a very very high "margin of error" in statistical terms. The problem is the media likes to sensationalize a research on religion especially when it is so negative without really checking the validity and reliability of the research. Another research should cross-validate the data on the news with a bigger population sample from different parts of the US. As for me and most statisticians this recent kind of research is most likely unreliable, invalid, and has a very wide range of "margin of error". Most likely the one who did this research has a hidden agenda/motive against religious people, particularly to Evangelical and Catholic Christians.
Posted by: Bren Kryg | May 02, 2009 at 06:49 AM