From CNN:
Churchgoers more likely to back torture, survey finds
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.
34 comments:
To quote Gandhi, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."
I realized a long time ago that many Christians worship torture. After all, the pinnacle of their religion, the cross, is an instrument of torture. They pray to it. They revere it. They got mad when that artist dumped one in a jar of piss.
They turned out in droves for that Mel Gibson sorry excuse for a movie, which was basically a porno flick for sadists. I really don't know how someone could sit through something so graphic like that for 127 minutes, think it was a good thing, and then excuse the violence as religion, because if any other movie were that violent, the censors would be up in arms.
AWQM - I always liked that quote from Gandhi.
Another massive amount of torture used by "christians' would be the Spanish Inquisition. The Catholic church had a field-day with that one. Then there's the Salem witch trials and burnings....and sad to say, though I hate to admit it, I'm sure some of my ancestors had a hand in that. (Both my mom's and dad's families stepped off the Mayflower together.)
That's just so sad! Eddie, don't feel bad...some of my Apache relatives were dumb enough to declare guerilla war on the white man ;0
Hypocricy never ends with the likes of these here christians Gramps. Kinda like hell I suppose.
Riot Kitty - I think I'd rather my ancestors were white man hating Apaches than bible thumpin' Puritans.
At least that killin' I can understand.
One Fly - You're right, the christianists and American Taliban are loaded to the gills with hypocrites.
@grandpa... yeah some of my ancestors arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century, though not on the Mayflower. I don't know that they had anything to do with the Salem witch trials though. I doubt it as they were mostly in Cape Cod I think.
But if you go further back, the number of possible ancestors grows exponentially each generation (over a million after 20 generations, but there are most certainly duplicates where the lines converge back on themselves), so therefore everyone in the present day probably has someone in their line who was an ass.
@Riot Kitty... some of my other ancestors were Cherokee. They were the ones who refused to leave western North Carolina when the United States government rounded up all the Cherokee there and forced them to walk to Oklahoma.
There are legends of guerrilla warfare waged on the settlers and that they finally called a truce if they'd hand over the principal instigator, Tsali, the rest could remain there. There's really conflicting accounts though, so it might just be a tall tale. But it makes a good story :D
Wow, I guess they never read those parts of the bible where Jesus talks about hypocrites...(well, duh, Sidhe, obviously...yeah, yeah, I know!).
AWQM - Holy crap, my dear, we just might be related.
Sidhe - uuuhh....yeah.
Christianity is nothing but self-torture in order to save their own lives for another world, so why would they feel bad about torturing other people to save other lives? It's pretty consistent, as I see it. Perverse, but consistent.
And don't forget that these are the same people who are the biggest purveyors of pornography...and of course guns.These are also the ones that beat the crap out of kids and are often the child molesters.
When my grandmother was alive, she once told me that if you weren't Southern Baptist, you were going to hell. Not even a Methodist could go to heaven in her view.
So many narrow minded, hypocritical, and often abusive people hiding behind Jesus.
ZIRGAR - Yes it is self torture, and they love to torture others. That's one reason why they keep trying to force their beliefs on everyone else.
When they get caught in "sin", such as porno or child abuse/molestation, they blame the "world" for causing them to "sin". They don't accept it as their own perversion and failings.
itdawnedonme - I think there are more sex addicts, sexual perverts, and child molesters/abusers in the "church" then there is in the rest of the population....more gun "nuts", too.
I heard a lot of the same when I was growing up from both Baptists and Catholics. If you weren't a member of their particular sect, you weren't going to heaven.
If you go far enough back, grandpa, we're all related. They've traced our mitochondrial DNA to a female in Africa some 170,000 years ago. Everyone who is alive today shares this mitochondrial DNA (not nuclear DNA), she is humanity's most recent maternal ancestor. But yes, we could be related much sooner than 170k years ago. ;)
And you guys bring up a good point about Christianity. It denies any responsibility of the individual. When they can just "ask Jesus for forgiveness" they feel they can do anything, and so long as they're in the good graces of whatever denomination they belong to, they'll still go to heaven. Doesn't matter if they murder, torture, rape, whatever, they're "saved" by Jesus if they just "accept him" before they die. It's a twisted ideology, and one that is easily abused.
I love that fact WQM and of course the crazys ignore that. What else can you do when you think the 6000 year old hit. I also like this video which is along those lines.
One Fly - Great video! Thanks for that link pal.
"Jesus has forgiven me," said the serial murderer of 28 children.
Christians are our crazy aunts and uncles who have escaped from our attics.
Nancy - I killed all mine before they got out....and Jebus will forgive me...
Oh Bless You My Child!!! Mine are still walkin' the streets spreading the wonders and joys of insanity.
Nancy - OK, here's whatcha gotta do.
Get a rope, a net, a baseball bat(a good wood one), and a bottle of wine.
Go find 'em, they all should be together 'cause they travel in packs. Throw the net over them and take the rope and tie the net closed. Drag them back up into the attic. Take the bat and beat them to death. I find a bat much more fun and quieter than a gun. Once you have finished, and none of them are moving any more, open the wine and sit down and have a glass or two.....or until it's all gone. You're gonna need it.
the world would be so much if religious zealots (from all religions) practiced 1/4 of what they preached.....
our lady of undeniable hypocrisy.
a lot of these same church goers also would love to stone adulters and wish all gays were dead
Thank you for the advise, Eddie. I think I'll just drink the bottle of wine and leave it at that! Good fantasy though. :)
Distributorcap - Yes. Isn't it sickening? They seem to pick and choose what bible passages they want to adhere to and ignore the rest like it doesn't exist. Drives me nuts.
D-Cap - I think if they practiced 10% of what they preach it would be a big improvement on their part.
Nancy - It was all just a suggestion anyway my dear. But yes, drink the wine. Do not let that go to waste.
Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine,
When ya gonna let me get sober.
Leave me alone, let me go home,
Let me go home and start over.
"When ya gonna let me get sober."
Not until the earth has been swept clean of all who make us miserable. Hot toddy, my friend?
Serve 'em up my dear.;)
Torture... this must be why these fundamentalist all wear crosses. They approve of torture.
Cats - I would think so. I mean, why else wear them if they don't believe that torture is a good thing.
Hell, Jesus Christ was the last true Christian. The person we can thank for the direction of the Church is St. Paul, the misogynist. He fell off his horse and 'found God'.
Well, I guess all the best divine revelations begin with severe brain damage.
But not everyone...I met a Catholic bishop once. No, he didn't eat children but he lived his work. He became Bishop of Spokane, then sold the mansion, the artwork, the cars and the admin building. He moved into a two bedroom rambler on Trent St., not a great neighborhood. He only kept the stuff that was needed to hold services, the rest of the church's booty was sold.
He built a school and hospital in Guatemala, went to every parish in his diocese and shored up the schools and churches then fed and clothed the poor of Eastern WA. He was more than frugal, he wore shoes left to him by a friend priest when he died. That is what I always thought a Christian should be doing.
I'm not a big fan of the Church anymore. For the most part, Christians suck. They spend a hour a week confessing their sins only to go out and commit them all over again in the next 6 days.
If you're getting a hot bath on Sunday morning, it doesn't matter how dirty you get Saturday night.
What's the matter wit you? Of course Jesus favors torture. Well, god does. Wait, they're the same. So Jesus must, too. God (who is Jesus) insisted that he be tortured to death as a sacrifice to himself for some sins that all human kind committed because a woman long ago ate a piece of fruit that was a no-no.
So, let's see if'n I kin get this straight: God, who is Jesus, required a blood (human) sacrifice as an atonement for sin. Why he required this we don't know - but all ancient gods desire blood (especially human) sacrifices. That's just the way they are, so we must accept it.
And everybody is an original sinner because of Eve.
So, God had himself in Jesus form tortured on a cross to satisfy the demand he set up.
The trouble with that is god can't suffer or feel pain or he wouldn't be god. So Jesus on the cross didn't suffer or feel pain thus he was not tortured.
It must have been a show - like a Broadway play or something.
Yeah, makes good sense. Confusing, though.
I think, too, I recall in the Gospel according to Paula, that Jesus said, "As people torture you, so do so unto them. Amen."
David - I, too, have met Christians who actually do live what they preach. There just isn't many of them.
And you're right, there are so very many christians that don't care what they do because they know that no matter what they do they will be "forgiven"....so why "walk like Christ here."
Jacob - Three good examples would be the pogrom against the Jews during the Black Plague, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Crusades.
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