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Torture Poll: It's About Politics, not Religion
By Jon Cohen, Jacqueline L. Salmon and Michelle Boorstein
A firestorm has erupted over recent poll analysis from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that show that white evangelical Protestants are far more likely than those in other faith traditions to support the use of torture against suspected terrorists.
As recently as today, faith leaders, mostly progressives, who oppose torture were holding up the survey to draw attention to how the issue is playing out in the faith community. In a telephone news conference, the anti-torture faith leaders called for a non-partisan commission to make public how many people were tortured, how many died and how many Americans participated in torturing.
The Pew numbers are solid, but they don't tell the whole story. Another way to look at it them is through the prism of political partisanship -- not religion.
The GOP bent among white evangelical Protestants is pronounced, while white Catholics split about evenly between identifying with the Democrats and Republicans. Those with no stated affiliation tilt clearly Democratic, by better than 3-1 among voters, according to the 2008 exit poll. In parallel, most of those who attend religious services regularly consider themselves Republicans, in stark contrast to the Democratic tilt among those who go irregularly.
Not controlling for these differences can make political differences seem sectarian when comparing across religious groups.
This is evident in the debate over interrogations.
In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, Americans split about evenly on the question of whether torture is justifiable in investigations of terrorism suspects, just as they did in the Pew poll. And also as in that poll, white evangelicals are much more inclined to see torture as an option than are white Catholics and the unaffiliated.
But among white Democrats, there's no significant difference between Protestants and Catholics, nor is there a big divergence along religious lines among Republicans. In a basic statistical model estimating public support for a torture option, party is a clear predictor, whether one is Catholic, Protestant or unaffiliated is not.
But the fact is, the discussion has been mostly around the religious angle. The leaders of the effort announced today include Rabbi Brian Walt of Rabbis for Human Rights; Rev. Carol Wickersham, who oversees an anti-torture group within the Presbyterian Church; and evangelical ethicist David Gushee (founder of Evangelicals for Human Rights), who recently wrote an essay as a letter to Jesus expressing sorrow at the results:
"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. What a negation of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20)! We could call it the Great De-Commissioning!"
By
Jacqueline L. Salmon
|
May 7, 2009; 12:46 PM ET
| Category:
God in Government
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Posted by: MarkusR | May 17, 2009 10:28 PM
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Isn't it something that we take a poll on everything?
Isn't it something that some seem to think that if a majority believe something than that makes it right?
Isn't it something that we sometimes seem to think that just because something is legal that makes it right and conversely just because something is illegal that it makes it wrong?
Isn't it something that the country that is supposedly the richest on earth is actually in hock to the rest of the world and no one seems to notice?
Isn't it something that God looks at the person and not the label that some affix to themself?
Isn't it something that God is not even close to being the vile, putrid, despicable, revenge-seeking, piece of garbage that some that know His Name think that God is?
Isn't it something that God is not even close to being the vile, putrid, despicable, revenge-seeking, piece of garbage that some that know His Name seem to want God to be as long as they get to the "good place"?
Isn't it something that God gave us the ability to reason for a reason?
Isn't it something that we cherish freedom more in theory than in reality?
Something to think about!
Take care, be ready.
Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.
Posted by: ThomasBaum | May 9, 2009 11:10 AM
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I don't think it's helpful to claim it's politics but not religion. It's both politics AND religion. Religion is an indicator of political affiliation, and vice versa. And both are indicators of views on torture. It's like saying people are more likely to be against abortion because they're Republicans. That hardly tells the whole story. Same with torture.
Posted by: pivopix | May 8, 2009 2:44 PM
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It's neither politics or religion. It is the ghost of Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram. The President (authority figure) said it was necessary to torture. Evangelicals believed as did Milgram's subjects. Even though it flew against their better Christian judgement (or at least it should have) they complied and supported torture. This created the dynamic where opposition to the group opinion became emotionally charged (difficult to point out that jesus would not torture without calling someone apostate). Few had the courage to speak and say "this is wrong". Caution: This method is how the Nazi's were able to commit the Holocaust. It's how anyone given power and pressure can create a Holocaust. If this reasoning is flawed, please comment back to me so I can shore it up.