WASHINGTON (CNN) – The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.
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 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.
The analysis is based on a Pew Research Center survey of 742 American adults conducted April 14-21. It did not include analysis of groups other than white evangelicals, white non-Hispanic Catholics, white mainline Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated, because the sample size was too small.
The president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Leith Anderson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The survey asked: “Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can often be justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified, or never be justified?”
Roughly half of all respondents — 49 percent — said it is often or sometimes justified. A quarter said it never is.
The religious group most likely to say torture is never justified was Protestant denominations — such as Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians — categorized as “mainline” Protestants, in contrast to evangelicals. Just over three in 10 of them said torture is never justified. A quarter of the religiously unaffiliated said the same, compared with two in 10 white non-Hispanic Catholics and one in eight evangelicals.
Maybe someone can help me out…Why is it that some Christians still feel that such a dehumanizing and disrespectful practice is okay according to Biblical principles? Doesn’t it mean something that we’re created in God’s image? What about the whole pro-life thing? Shouldn’t we – if anyone – be protecting the dignity of other human beings? Even those we consider our enemies?
I just spent time with a few thousand church planters who are trying desperately to break down barriers – to eliminate stereotypes – to build bridges with people who have no desire to be part of a church. And then this comes out (see the article here):
Manhattan’s Riverside Church – one of the country’s most illustrious religious institutions – is paying its new senior pastor, the Rev. Brad Braxton, more than $600,000 in annual compensation….Church sources say it includes:
$250,000 in salary.
$11,500 monthly housing allowance.
Private school tuition for his child.
A full-time maid.
Entertainment, travel and “professional development” allowances.
Pension and life insurance benefits.
An equity allowance for Braxton to save up to buy a home.On top of that, Braxton immediately hired a new second in command at more than $300,000 a year.
I DON’T GET IT!!!!
I don’t even know what to say! I’m speechless! And that says a lot…
How does someone read the Bible and arrive at the conclusion that this is okay? THE BIBLE! READ THE FRIGGIN’ BIBLE AND EXPLAIN THIS TO ME!
And according to the church website, his wife is the CEO of her own financial planning company! DO THEY REALLY NEED THE MONEY!!!
One of the most informative sessions I attended while at Exponential ‘09 was a session on the ten most common mistakes made by church planters. These were introduced to us with the caveat that any one of these things has the potential (and probability) to kill a church plant. One of the great things about this session was its practicality. But it was also good for me because of the involvement I’ve had with three different church plants in drastically different social contexts; I was able to listen to the presentation and identify specific situations I’ve been a part of.
Given the usefulness of the list we were given, I thought I’d pass some of this on to the blogosphere. My sense is that these points are not just dangers for church planters, but that they can probably be applied to an established ministry as well. Here’s the list:
In pursuit of the “Great Commission,” church planters neglect the “Great Commandment”: Love God. The point here is that the church planter’s soul will not be fed by the church. By definition, church planters spend all their time with non-Christians – in other words, very few of the acquaintances a church planter has possesses the ability to be a spiritual mentor and supporter.
Failure to take the opposition seriously. Opposition doesn’t just mean Satan. The opposition is all forces working against the new church. This is core team members, community members, denominational officials, city leaders… There are a lot of opinions about what successful church planting accomplishes and nearly everyone has an opinion. But the key thing is that the planter is attentive to the leading of the Spirit. I also want to caution against automatically being suspicious of people. The point here is to be prepared and ready for those moments when outside forces start working against you. The hard part is when those forces are other well-meaning, caring, devoted, mature Christians. Most people are merely trying to do what they feel is in the best interest of another group. But inevitably, conflict will arise and we need to be prepared for it and act appropriately.
Falling in love with our fantasy church rather than the mission field. There are a lot of people who venture into church planting with the plan to create a megachurch. They have a very clear picture in their mind of what the future congregation will look like. While a clear vision is necessary, the church plant absolutely must reflect the community over the planter’s vision. If the plant doesn’t match the context, the church will never get off the ground.
Premature launch. This is a mistake I saw first hand. There’s a temptation to take advantage of the excitement of the core team and to get a public launch going while the excitement is still high. The fear is that once people begin to settle down and realize just how hard church planting is, they won’t want to be a part of it; you have to get organized as soon as possible or else all is lost. But big jumps set you up for big falls. It’s far safer and more reliable (from an organizational perspective) to delay the public launch as long as possible. Keep it simple, keep it consistent, and you’re far more likely to have a good ministry.
Evangelism ceases after the launch because they start “playing church.” We have to ask ourselves why we’re planting: is it to get a new church off the ground? Or is it to reach the lost? Just because we have a group of people getting together every week for worship, doesn’t mean the work is over. As long as there’s people in the community who don’t know Jesus, your evangelistic work isn’t done.
No plan for the rest of the week. This is much like the last point. If Sunday is the only day that matters to the church planter, ministry isn’t really helping. You don’t need to have a meeting or Bible study every day of the week, but the planter needs to be connecting with people and being a pastor the at least 5 of the other 6 days, too.
Fear of talking about money until it’s too late. Also don’t talk about it too much. There’s a fine line here and it’s quite the balancing act. Churches need money in order to function. There’s also a Biblical expectation that God’s people be willing to financially support the missio Dei (mission of God). If the planter is serious about making disciples, he/she must address the giving aspect of the Christian life. There are a lot of ideas about how much Christians should give and how much the pastor should know about an individuals giving. I personally don’t want to know what everyone is giving. After a while, you begin to get a pretty good idea of who’s giving what. I think everyone should be giving, but I won’t decree how much. The point is, don’t be afraid to talk about money – just do it tactfully and respectfully.
Failure of the church to act its age and size. A lot of church plants try to be something they aren’t. Church plants are very susceptible to collapse and all it takes is the big church down the road to flex a little muscle and the planter’s hopes are shattered. But it’s far better to be aware of what the church plant can do and can do well. Not everyone is looking for the same thing and people will come to our church because we have something that really speaks to them. They might be different people than we expected or wanted, but they’re the people God is bringing to us.
Formalizing leadership too soon. The first people that come to you are not required to be your first leaders. The ability of the planter to develop solid leadership is necessary for the congregation to gain a sense of ownership of the ministry. If people own the ministry, they’ll do what they need to in order to ensure the ministry doesn’t fail. Take your time. Leadership is necessary for everyone’s health, but take your time. As long as we’re not in a rush to get to the public launch, developing leadership shouldn’t be all that difficult. Look for people who already have leadership skills, and work with them in applying those skills within the church.
Using the “Superstar” model as the paradigm for all church plants. There are a lot of books out there telling you how to plant a church. Unfortunately, none of them were written for your neighborhood or your group. Every church plant is unique. In most communities, churches just a few blocks apart can’t replicate each other’s ministry. The church planter needs to figure out what works for his/her church without trying to copy someone else on the other side of the country. Each situation is different and requires different things.
I just returned from Exponential ‘09. This is a church planting conference held every year in Orlando. Bunch of speakers and lots of fun. On the last day, Francis Chan spoke to the crowd. But before he got up, he received this intro (HINT: watch the words on the screen if you can’t understand what he’s saying…). This was truly memorable…
People Talk