Amid intense public debate over the use of torture against suspected terrorists, an analysis by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life of a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press illustrates differences in the views of four major religious traditions in the U.S. about whether torture of suspected terrorists can be justified. Differences in opinion on this issue also are apparent based on frequency of attendance at religious services.
Total US Population
Can Often Be Justified
15%
Can Sometimes Be Justified
34%
Can Rarely Be Justified
22%
Can Never Be Justified
25%
Don't Know/Refused
4%
White Evangelical Protestants
Can Often Be Justified
18%
Can Sometimes Be Justified
44%
Can Rarely Be Justified
17%
Can Never Be Justified
16%
Don't Know/Refused
5%
White Non-Hispanic Catholics
Can Often Be Justified
19%
Can Sometimes Be Justified
32%
Can Rarely Be Justified
27%
Can Never Be Justified
20%
Don't Know/Refused
2%
White Mainline Protestants
Can Often Be Justified
15%
Can Sometimes Be Justified
31%
Can Rarely Be Justified
22%
Can Never Be Justified
31%
Don't Know/Refused
1%
Unaffiliated
Can Often Be Justified
15%
Can Sometimes Be Justified
25%
Can Rarely Be Justified
29%
Can Never Be Justified
26%
Don't Know/Refused
5%
Attend Religious Services At Least Weekly
Can Often Be Justified
16%
Can Sometimes Be Justified
38%
Can Rarely Be Justified
19%
Can Never Be Justified
25%
Don't Know/Refused
2%
Does this mean the more religious you are, the more you approve of torture?
18 comments:
I'm sure some of you have heard the Old Testament verse "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". It directly refers to vengeance against somebody who has wronged you, but in these modern times I think it's viable to use this in an analysis of torture. Religious people are more emotionally involved when it comes to bringing justice to "wrong-doers", so it makes sense.
I don't believe that religion and approving of torture has any influence on the other...at least I hope they don't. The statistics don't show a significant gap in percentages between those that believe that torture can be often justified. I would think that religious people would view torture are wrong and morally.
haha.
In the Tower of London they have a thing set up where people can show if they think torture is ok, bad or only ok sometimes. Over there the sometimes was winning.
Religious people tend to be a bit more violent when it comes to some things...
I think the more religious people are, the more they are into the criminals going to hell. I would assume that the more you did wrong, the more deserving you are to go to hell so why not just speed up the process. But thats just a possibility.
haha that makes me question who i go to church with
I'm confused on why this survey only took the opinions of the white population. I scrolled down thinking I would find different results from different races but didn't. Weird. Anyway it is kind of funny that so many religious people seem to think that torture is justifiable. I would have expected the numbers of "Can Never Be Justified" a lot higher.
I don't necessarily believe that the correlation between religion and torture beliefs is strong enough to draw that conclusion. As far as I can tell the discrepancy is fairly negligible since the percents were not so radically different. This also may be associated with a slight correlation with the religious right who might tend to lean more toward condoning torture under certain circumstances. I don't believe the religion condones torture nor necessarily refutes it, but as i said before the numbers are not a big enough gap to draw the conclusion.
I think that religion has a lot to do with how or if you get tortured for any wrong doing. Now a days if you look at someone wrong you get punched in the face! I say if you are religious you should have some kind of conscience and you wouldn't torture anybody.
This is exactly why I don't affiliate with a church.
Ridiculous.
I think it is odd that "can sometimes be justified" is the one that had the highest percentage. You would think that on a topic like this that a person would either be for or against it. If you were torturing everyone for the same reason, to get information, how could it be justified only sometimes?
well i think people believe in different religious things. Some people are deffinatly more religious than others. Therefore they take what they think is right very seriouslly, even to the extent of wanting everyone who comments a sin to go to hell; if they haven't been forgiven. I honestly think people should forgive you for your wrong doing. Everyone deserves to be forgiven, because they know what they did wrong and they have to live with that burden the rest of their lives.
I think that just because people shine numbers different ways, that doesn't mean anything about religion vs. torture. Besides, why tie religion in, anyway? Because strictly religious people can mention hell and use it as justice? I think our view on torture and religion has changed and been tainted by a stereotypical society. An "eye for an eye" makes the whole world blind. We can find out the information in a much more effective and less violent way.
you would think that the more religious you are the more opposed you would be to this.... what has this world come to
I don't think it's regular church goers believe that torture can be justified. We can't always try to blame religion for skewed views of people that believe in torture. It has gotten to the point where here in America we try to pin everything we do wrong on our religious background.
I honestly don't believe thats true, you can make stats show anything you want to. So,it really dosnt matter if you think this is true or not we should just be dealing with the problem, instead of trying to find someone to blame.
I think if that survey had more than just white people in it it would have changed the whole entire survey.
Hmmm wow thats kinda weird. I really dont think the more religious you are the more you believe in torture. Me being a catholic has really no effect on the way i think of the way some1 should be punished. Im more for an eye for an eye but thats not the way it works because its called cruel and unusual punishment, its just kinda hard to explain it. But i dont let my religious beliefs get in the way of whats right.
Post a Comment