Matthew 7:12

 

The majority of evangelical Protestants in the United States have no problem with the use of torture on suspected terrorists, according to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. While 62% of evangelicals said the use of torture is justified either often or some of the time, only 51% of white Catholics agreed likewise, and only 32% of those who barely go to any church approved of torture.

 

So why are evangelicals more okay with waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques than any other group? Theology Professor Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite thinks it has something to do with the basic tenets of evangelical theology. Such Christians believe in the “penal theory of the atonement,” which is rooted in the pain and suffering that Jesus experienced while being flogged and crucified by the Romans. This salvation through suffering was graphically captured in the 2004 Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ, which Evangelical Christians helped make the highest grossing R-rated film in Hollywood history.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Why the Faithful Approve of Torture (Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Newsweek)

The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate (The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)