I found it interesting that regular church goers in America are more likely to approve of state torture than those who go less regularly. This data came out in a Pew Research Center (see The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate) survey released April 30. White evangelical Protestants are most likely to tolerate torture. People who attend church at least once a week are also more inclined to support torture. White non-Hispanic Catholics and white mainline Protestants agreed torture is often or sometime justified. Are these good people focused on the harsh messages of the old testament and missing the message of the new testament about loving thy neighbor and doing unto others as you would be done unto?
Some say that information gathered under torture is not reliable: people under torture will tell you whatever you want to hear. Another thought about all this is the application of torture only works if the victim is convinced he or she will be killed unless they talk. When you have "guidelines" known to the world, friend and foe alike, that prohibit killing, then the victim need only be trained to hold out. That the victim may not be able to stand up indefinitely to torture is probably most true. The Gestapo proved this during World War II. Their prisoners were told that if captured they should try to hold out for at least 24 hours to give others the chance to get away. This is probably true to this day. But Bill Maher, HBO's resident political satirist, joked recently that one of the terrorists at Guantanamo had been water boarded so much he was showing up wearing a bathing suit, carrying a beach towel and a Danielle Steele novel under his arm.
Some say that information gathered under torture is not reliable: people under torture will tell you whatever you want to hear. Another thought about all this is the application of torture only works if the victim is convinced he or she will be killed unless they talk. When you have "guidelines" known to the world, friend and foe alike, that prohibit killing, then the victim need only be trained to hold out. That the victim may not be able to stand up indefinitely to torture is probably most true. The Gestapo proved this during World War II. Their prisoners were told that if captured they should try to hold out for at least 24 hours to give others the chance to get away. This is probably true to this day. But Bill Maher, HBO's resident political satirist, joked recently that one of the terrorists at Guantanamo had been water boarded so much he was showing up wearing a bathing suit, carrying a beach towel and a Danielle Steele novel under his arm.
