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justice = NO torture

May 19, 2009

Posted in: justice

A friend of the Fusion Community sent a link to the following story—knowing that Fusion would not fit the mold of this statistical revelation of ‘the church’ at large.  As i read the article—i couldn’t help but believe, YES, as a church–we would never support torture.  But, i admittedly, have become most unsettled at the thought that it could be okay for any Christ follower to accept and affirm the torture of ANY person.  The self-preservation and security that torture may provide the USA cannot compare to the justice, love, compassion, and mercy we, as Christ followers, are compelled to share toward a broken and hurting humanity.  Remember, this debate isn’t about punishing criminals—it’s about torturing the criminal and the innocent.

Everyone seems to be talking about the poll put out last week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. They found that 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe “the use of torture against suspected terrorists to gain important information” to be often or sometimes justified. Only 16 percent of this group — a community that by self-definition is very, very serious about following you — believes torture is never justified. That number was lower than any other group polled.

I think that what really got people’s attention with this poll, Lord, is that both evangelical identity and church attendance were positively correlated with support for torture. Thirteen percent more evangelicals said torture was often or sometimes justified than in the general population. In other words: The more often people go to church, the more they support torture. So those of your followers who go to church every week support torture at 54 percent, while those who seldom or never go support it at 42 percent.

These results have bounced around the country all week, reinforcing the opinion here that Christianity — the faith that purports to be related to loyalty to you, Jesus — leads people to support torture. It would be easy for casual news-watchers to conclude that if you want to end torture in this country, the best thing to do would be to empty out the churches . . . (excerpt from Friends of Justice)

What are your thoughts?