Christians support torture more than non-believers

I don't think religion has anything to do with it. Zealots have a tendency to employ a narrow focus because it is easier -- mental laziness. It requires far less intellectual effort to appear "convinced" and "justified" in any dogma, than to actually "think" for yourself. Therefore torture as a means to achieve "proof" of any behaviour outside the approval of that dogma seems reasonable.
There is an old Confucian saying, "He who strikes the first blow, looses the debate." Torture is "violence". Violence is always the first tool of the ignorant.

I am a christian and i do not support torture.
why slander other peoples beliefs ??

Yes, and Muslims are so much more tolerant. Give me a break.

Yeah, if you could only make sense to religious people - right?
Try to remind those Muslim kids that their religion really means love and they won't get 59 virgins waiting for them after they blow people up.

Anybody in religions: Wouldn't you rather be doing something important?

Worse than drugs for throwing your life away. -Sorry, but true.

If you love the creator, you love the creation!

"Religion if properly understood is not about belief but about behavior" Al Gore said this crediting Karen Armstrong for it.

I'd like to quote her to:

“I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.”

And to add to my previous comment many pple who try to kill christians for speaking the truth are those do not believe in Jesus. A good example is going to China. If someone assumes that your a christian you can be instantly killed on the spot or taken off to jail. Several other countries are similar if not as worse.

In case someone didn’t know, the same people who wanted to kill Jesus were the ones who followed the traditional ways of running the church. (“Christianity” actually got its name for the people who followed Jesus not those who simply went to church.) Most of the (possibly all) scripture quotes everyone made were of the Old Testament in the Bible (which means before Jesus time). This means that there were severe strict rules back then. Of course there were no Bibles. Barely anyone could read anyway, except the wealthy or popes. So pretty much 1 out of about 100 people back then were able to always do what God wanted them to do. Before Jesus, we did not have an easy chance to go to heaven. What’s worse is while there were few solidly good believers trying to influence others, there were also those who spoke lies about God and constantly tricked multitudes of people. According to the law, those who deceived people and those repeatedly disobeyed God was sentenced to death. When Jesus came (New Testament) he made a way that people do not need to be killed instantly because of sin. In the Bible Jesus actually prevented this prostitute from being stoned to death by the church leaders because she was suppose to be sentenced to death for her actions.
All of his disciples where people who would be considered sinners. Because Jesus did not act upon traditional ways, people of the church (usually the priests) and other influential people who sought to kill Jesus. The thing is Jesus knew this would happen. In fact his goal on this earth was to live a perfect life and make a way that everyone can be saved if they believed and followed him; No matter who we are, what our past looks like, what race, gender, etc. Jesus died on that cross because he knew that if he didn’t, many people would perish without a fighting chance.
The cross symbolizes the price of our sins. It should have been us dying for our actions, but Jesus didn’t want that. After Jesus died everyone who followed Jesus were called Christians because they were “Christ-followers.” And yes they were killed as well because they followed Jesus. Yet the news of Jesus was spreading like wild fire, so it didn’t end.
Just a brief list of people who died while believing in Jesus: John the Baptist- decapitated while in a prison cell; Paul-eventually killed yet ran most of his life from people trying to kill him, several times was imprisoned, stoned, flogged, you name it.; before Paul followed Jesus he witnessed a man named Stephen who was being stoned and died for preaching about the love of Christ.; Just recently I heard a story about a school teacher in America who shot his student for believing in Jesus after he told her to stop. In a popular book called “Jesus Freaks” a little girl was shot (I believe in the head, can’t remember) along with her family for refusing to spit on the bible….. She was at least six years old.
So no, Christians do not crave to kill people. To bear the name of a Christian alone brings on a meaning that Jesus had warned his disciples about before he died: That the world will hate Christians because it first hated him. Only through Christ we are saved, not laws and rules. So that means as long as Christianity exists, Christians are hunted down by people who want Christianity to stop, not necessarily directing all the blame to the general population of non believers. But because we care about people’s salvation we continue to share the gospel even though we are risking our freedom.

Yeah, how boring it would be. There only so many times you can see another hippie talking about "I'm the one"

New CD please.

religion is so ass backwards. I swear to jesus christ almighty these people dont know the first thing about being christlike.

They worship a symbol rather than practice his teachings, its a shame too because if more people were christlike this world would be a more tolerant/peaceful place to live.

Of course they do - they invented most of the torture techniques in existence.

why dont we assume the middle east religious groups are the ones Most likley to inflict torture for they are the damn TERRORISTS! gah people

I'm flying over this thread with my anti-religion bomb, bomb-bay doors open, - wind blasting. Current City passes below.
Is this the place - or should I fly on?

It is not christians who want to kill non-believers its people who have hatred. Actually the Bible says that we are not to kill one another. Becomeing a christain doesnt develope a drive to go off and murder someone. Just look at the christian news. Daily christians are being killed for thier faith, its not saying christians are killing another nonbeliever. people who portray as people of faith and kill for pleasure are actually people who are not true christians according to Gods word.

Oh, and by the way, Unimatrix, that was a very interesting statement with which you began this article:

"If you believe in Jesus, chances are you believe in torture. Jesus would be proud."

Setting aside for the moment the fact that this study doesn't say that, I can't help being startled by both the viciousness and the frequency of your attacks on Christianity. As I look back on your previous posts, it is clear that you don't loathe other religions to the point of making them the object of your written criticisms. I could be way out in left field (wouldn't be the first time), but I would hazard a guess that you have either been hurt very badly by someone in the context of Christianity or that you have a lot of anger in you for whatever reason and have decided to make Christianity the focus of that anger (again for whatever reason).

Neither is any of my business, of course. If you ARE in pain, I would be saddened to hear it. But since I don't know whether that is the case, what troubles me more at this point is that an obviously very intelligent person like you, who knows perfectly well that there are both horrible, ugly, evil people who are Christians AND people who are their polar opposites AND everybody in between is nonetheless so indiscriminate in your hurtfulness.

Surely you know, for example, that it hurts me to hear an intelligent person tell me that I more than likely believe in torture and that Jesus would be ashamed of me. And I know you won't be so condescending as to say that you "didn't mean to include me" when you made this statement. You meant to address all Christians and did so.

Oh well, I am just sorry to see so much anger and hatred bottled up in one person.

Someone should do a documentary on that question . If would be good for "Americans " to get to know the rest of the world as well . I bet they would find they are just as human . We may have to come down to their level before all is said . It wasn't until about 3 years into the great depression that the full impact was felt . All the aid ran out .

More disnfo from unimatrix0 as usual,by the way how many of you is there?

Divide & Conquer lol

I hope this isn't too far off the subject, but as I was reading the last couple of posts a thought popped into my head that I had considered a few times before, and I didn't want to lose it (so I am going to subject you to it -- talk about torture...)

It was just that I have considered what image most people around the world -- and especially in the so-called Third World countries have of Americans. And despite the horrors of the stories and pictures of the torture done at Guantanamo, I doubt that newspapers are the source of most of that opinion (there are serious problems of literacy and the quality of the press in such places, for one thing, and I don't even know if a local newspaper in Bangladesh, for example, would be particularly inclined to take up space in their newspaper regarding Americans doing ANYthing...).

In fact, I am not even sure most people in such areas have ever SEEN or MET an American face-to-face. But I'll bet a lot of them have seen terrifyingly loud and powerful American fighter planes and watched them drop bombs with unthinkable destructive power from several miles up in the sky. What, I wonder, does a subsistence farmer in the Middle East or South Asia or the Phillipines, or wherever -- who has always resolved his own conflicts with others face-to-face -- think of a people who fly around in the safety of their big machines, dropping bombs on people they have never met and killing them with the same nonchalance that the farmer might kill a mosquito. Then these Americans casually fly off while those who have been bombed begin to mourn their dead and rebuild their homes.

Do they think that we are fundamentally cowards, hiding behind our big machines? Cowards who see the lives of others as just so many insects to crush from afar?

I agree with humanpasta . I think , there are good people in every religion, yet these same religions have an element of rage and fear ( an angry god , fear of hell , which is eternal torture ) that often the decent members I talk with gloss over . These theologies may market themselves as religions of peace and love , yet I who grew up in one felt generally judged and "born in sin " guilty without a crime . Messed up psychology , that is . Almost designed to create resentment and anger and fear that must surely be projected outward . I you believe in a hell , then your god approves of torture . Likely you might too .

For those of you saying "we should be allowed to torture if our families or citizens are at risk."

Then I ask you how are we any different than them? We will be giving them the excuse to kill us and torture our own people. We will have no sway with them or the world. What country is this that hides its freedoms. I say we are the better people if we can stand strong against evil without succumbing to what makes men destructive.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

Read "Stranger in a Strange Land" it pretty much sums up all monotheistic religions. And by the way. All three religions are the same fucking thing, they just change the names.

If you believe in "Heaven" and "Hell" it's easy to sanction torture and murder. You can always apologize in the "afterlife" if you're wrong. After all, you're only doing "God's work". Those of us who believe this life is all we have find it harder to justify evil deeds in the name of good or "righteousness". Unfortunately, Julius Caesar was correct. "The masses are easily swayed". By anyone who has the forum to reach a large number of people who feel that they aren't in control of their own lives. Religion is inherently for the weak and cowardly who want a father figure to guide and control them.

I think that verse to "use the rod" is resonating a bit too much in this case...

I have said all along that Obama should go after the Bush administration Jan and continue to say it on current and everywhere else!

Regarding the generalizations regarding Christians, perhaps we can just agree than instead of saying "Christians are this" we can rather say "The prevailing Christian view is this." A bit pedantic maybe, but it would save us from having to debate semantics.

If Christ was among us, he'd probably be waterboarded.

Well the sci-fi novel their "religion" (it goes a step further in stupidity) is based on is CONSTANTLY yapping on about rape, torture, killing, fucking animals, fucking humans, it has alot of profanity, and ALOT more torture than any other book I've ever read 1/4 of a page of.

well! dissing Cyndi Dupree is pointless.
all she is is doing is quoting the Bible.
Wait till someone starts quoting the Koren, that will make your hair stand on end.
And by the way Muslims still practice what they preach.

Besides this is a bogus article and a bogus survey,

It was posted for the sole purpose of the
denigration of Christians .
The survey showed 71% of American agreed that our Government should do what it takes to save lifes.
Some crazy bastard blows your family up and you find out the Goverment could have prevented it .
lets see your concern for the murdering fanatic then.

Oh but lets give him a fair trial while his brothers blow us the hell up.

Yeah the bait worked you hooked me.

Watch Goya's Ghosts.

Torture is a terrible thing.Read the bible that is torture.

this tells you something.

I am a Christian. The intentional infliction of physical or emotional pain is wrong. I would ask the people on this post to consider one thought. Are you opposed to bigotry, intolerance, narrow-mindedness, racism, ethnophobia and the like? If so, don't you oppose such conduct from ANYONE, regardless of the nature of their spirituality? Is it helpful to society to say that one is opposed to intolerance and then adding "from Christians" any more than it would be helpul to say that you are opposed to intolerance and then adding "from African Americans" or "from men" or "from Asians?"

Believe me, I understand the frustration people feel from fundamentalist Christian groups who spread evil in the world through their bigotry and hypocrisy. But stereotyping all Christians based on the conduct of the worst among us is wrong--just as it would be wrong to judge Americans based on the conduct of the Tea Party participants.

And by the way, these statistics are dispositive of nothing. Just because more Christians responded this way on a poll does not mean that their Christianity CAUSED their opinions on this subject. If there even IS any one cause for their responses (which is unlikely on an issue like this one), it could just as well have to do with the demographics associated with Christians (e.g., their average economic circumstances, their average age, the percentage of men versus women, etc.). Now if 90% of Christians felt this way, that would be a little more persuasive...

All Christians are not lumped in the same pile....You will be acknowledged by your deeds!!

Hmmm Janforgore I do see your viewpoint on this however fanatics like cindy are a great problem in our society! My gay friends would say being gay isn't depraved it is a life choice! What gives you and others like you the right to judge someone who doesn't follow your beliefs? I believe that god is kind and encompasses all his children! The bible wasn't written by god, but rather by humans, who chose to bend gods word to their own warped sense of belief! I also believe that if you respect others, like you want to be respected, then you are following what god would expect us to do and how a kind and just god would expect us to behave! To descriminate against anyone,to kill in the name of god to continue a waped sense of belief is evil,as is condeming anyone,for choosing how to live their lives! To continue to believe that ggay people are evil or depraved is as sick as the kidnapping and murder of this poor kid who had done nothing to hurt anyone! Although the right wing so called christians hate freedom of choice it is the cornerstone of any free society,and no one should be descriminated against,attacked or murdered,when all anyone with a free mind wants is to be let alone to live their lives as they choose as long as they do no harm to anyone! religion,as least fanatics,always condem anyone who refuses to convert to their belief system! isn't that what the crusades were about? Isn't that what these moslem terrorists are about?

I responded with this but wanted to repeat it and get the community's opinion:

I feel like this type of conversation gets repeated a lot on Current- "Such and such is this" / "No, not all such and such is like that!"

I mean, don't most of us realize and agree that not ALL anything can be generalized? How can we use words like "Democrats" "Christians" "Atheists" "Muslims" "Americans" and avoid this inevitable debate about stereotyping? To what extent can we use labels/names/descriptions without being told we are intolerant or judgmental?

Once again, anyone can say they are a Christian, but very few actually live up to that claim. None of which fight in wars, torture people, hate, or love violence in any way.

Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can often be justified, or sometimes be justified?

71% of the entire sample answered yes to the above.

To what extent should our government go to protect say 3000 American lives.

About 30% of Americans "based on this small sample of less then 1000," believe that if our government suspect a terrorists has information that would have prevented 9/1/01 that they should have done nothing to uncover the plot.

300o lives vs some water boarding,
Hard decision huh.!

We should put a loony test on the registration form.

History is full of the misdeeds of the so called Christians..How many countries have the Christians invaded? Enslaved their People, raped their women and stole their wealth......America's Conservatives are the decendants of those Christians!!!!!!!!!

Not all Christians support torchur, just like how not all Muslims support terrorism, and not all atheists are rational (as kuffar showed us). Plus, polls aren't exactly accurate.

JanforGore, what you said is well put. But the actual PEW research put the categories as Evangelical, Protestant, non affiliated, etc... and what it shows is that more Evangelicals favor torture than those who don't. People aren't born evangelicals or protestants or atheists like they are born black, gay or white. Perhaps this poll is showing the insights of how the various christian groups are taught.

Although we definitely cannot say all Evangelicals are torturers and all non-affiliated are against it, what we can say is that it is more likely an Evangelical will be pro-torture compared to a non-affiliated. Which can lead us to believe many (not all) evangelicals are taught that torture is okay OR that they aren't being taught it is bad.

To Cindy:
You contradict yourself.

"we as christians believe in this ..we are not shedding the blood of an innocent man these men are killing us,our families,their families and trying to take us all down they deserve what they get"

Might I point out that most people we torture are not put to court and found guilty of anything. They are usually put to torture because of one person which leads us to something you said -
"One witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. "

And of course I found it funny when you said,
"Let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. "
I thought that's what we do in torture.