one of the reasons so many people are dropping out of church, is the terrible image problem that Christians have. Check out this article from CNN
Religion and Torture
As a post-evangelical, post-conservative, I have had to face the fact that my "pro-life" views have been terribly inconsistant. I am personally against abortion, but I have had to re-examine my views on war, torture and capital punishment, and I have found myself moving toward a Quaker-Catholic or anabaptist view on all of these issues of human rights and respect for life.
In a recent book "UnChristian" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons documents the terrible image problem that evangelical Christians have in contemporary U.S. society. In my own opinion, it is because evangelicals are more "conservative" than they are "Christian" -- they have exchanged their faith for a cause. Below is a quote from the article on torture:
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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 to 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 six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.
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In my humble opinion, it no wonder that when normal, everyday people find out that someone is a "Christian" they run in the other direction. This is not persecution, this is simply "Christian" stupidity to put it crudely but honestly.
Click here to read the entire article on CNN.com
1 comment:
Interesting and timely post. This topic is the focus of our discussion this week at E&C.
I think the bigger issue is defining torture in light of the subject at hand, terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay. When I think of the word torture, I think of flagellation, running bamboo spikes under fingernails, sending electrical currents through a guys balls; things like that. In that case, I wouldn't support "torture". Also, I see torture as pain inflicted with no end in mind; a purposeless endeavor. However, inflicting pain or fear with the end purpose being extracting valuable information which will help save lives; that's something I wouldn't be against. I especially would not be against it if the person who is being "tortured" put himself in that position by thinking that it is okay to kill people for whatever reason. This would not be an innocent man who was taken away from his dinner table in front of his wife and kids. This would be an individual who knows something and isn't willing to share it.
As a Christian, I wish that all would come to know Christ, but I understand the fallen nature of man.
Do I support torture? I think the question should be rephrased: Do you support the use of calculated investigation and inquiry, and subsequent use of extreme measures, which may inflict pain and/or discomfort on enemy combatants, for the purpose of extracting needed information? I would answer yes.
Do I support torture? Absolutely not.
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