Re: Beware the Unbelievers
Perhaps researchers at the University of Minnesota should ask Americans who they would rather be held captive by—athiests or religious people?
When these study subjects pick loving, compassionate believers over Godless, heartless athiests, researchers should share the results of this study with them and then ask if they’re having any second thoughts. The study found that religious people were more likely to support torture than non-religious people. As Andrew Sullivan wrote on his blog yesterday…
Most disturbing to me are the high numbers of self-decribed Christians favoring torture: only 26 percent of Catholics oppose it in all circumstances, while only 31 percent of white Protestants rule it out entirely. If you combine those Christians who think torture is either never or only rarely acceptable, you have 42 percent of Catholics and 49 percent of white Protestants. The comparable statistic of those who are decribed as “secular,” which I presume means agnostic or atheist, is 57 percent opposition. In other words, if you are an American Christian, you are more likely to support torture than if you are an atheist or agnostic. Christians for torture: it’s a new constituency. Another part of the Bush legacy.
Um… wasn’t Jesus Christ a torture victim? I seem to recall a recent Mel Gibson movie that touched on that. Or maybe it was Mel Brooks?
Two names for ya: Mao and Stalin. Those aethiest killed, on the conservative side, 40 million between the two of them. I'd rather not be tortured, either by a religious kook or an aetheist kook. Thanks for asking, though.