Does religion affect your views on torture?

[Rudey]

I was watching Bill Maher and he referenced this so I searched for it and found it entertaining enough to post.

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/arch...06/032406h.htm

"A survey by the Pew Research Center in October showed that 15 percent of Americans believe torture is “often” justified, and another 31 percent believe it is “sometimes” justified. Add to that another 17 percent who said it is “rarely” justified, and you have two out of three Americans justifying torture under certain circumstances. Only 32 percent said it is “never” justified, while another 5 percent didn’t know or refused to answer.

But the portion of Catholics who justify torture is even higher, according to the survey. Twenty-one percent of Catholics surveyed said it is “often” justified and 35 percent said it is “sometimes” justified. Another 16 percent said it is “rarely” justified, meaning that nearly three of four Catholics justify it under some circumstances. Four percent of Catholics “didn’t know” or refused to answer and only 26 percent said it is “never” justified, which is the official teaching of the church."

Only 10% of secular Americans believed that torture often is acceptable - compared with 21% of Catholics, 15% of White Protestants and 13% of White Evangelicals.

Seem like a strangely disproportionate view on torture based on your religion.

-Rudey

[dekeguy]

Naw, not so strange. Its just that we Catholics miss the good old days of the Spanish Inquisition.

[dzrose93]

That's pretty interesting. However, although I'm Catholic, there are many official Church teachings with which I disagree. I'd say that's the case for many other Catholics as well. I guess that just because someone classifies themselves as practicing a certain religion doesn't necessarily mean that they practice it to the letter. Probably goes for people of other religions, too.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by dzrose93
That's pretty interesting. However, although I'm Catholic, there are many official Church teachings with which I disagree. I'd say that's the case for many other Catholics as well. I guess that just because someone classifies themselves as practicing a certain religion doesn't necessarily mean that they practice it to the letter. Probably goes for people of other religions, too.

I've dated Catholic girls.

They firmly believed in torture - at least in dealing with me.

-Rudey

[Tom Earp]

HELL, never bothered Me!

My Priest was a SN!