Tonight, I'm incredibly saddened that American evangelicals can't even represent their God when it comes to a simple doctrine/belief that people are created in His image. CNN is reporting a Pew Research Center poll that 6 out of 10 evangelicals say torture is "often" or "sometimes" justified. My hunch (okay, it's more than a hunch - more along the lines of a personal conviction) is that much of American evangelicalism has subtly shifted to a kind of "civil religion," whereby things such as patriotism/nationalism and conservative politics trump scriptural conviction at best, and actually inform its worldview at worst.
Ironically, during yesterday's press conference, President Obama (whom many American conservatives have developed a firey overreaction to) made a statement about the Bush torture policy that demonstrated significant moral authority. Inspired by Winston Churchill, Obama said that allowing torture would "corrode the character of our country." American evangelicals would do well to affirm their values, even when coming from a Democratic president whom they may disagree with on other issues. Unfortunately, I'm afraid many evangelicals are too busy looking to Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Riley for what to believe.
Brandon,
Looks like this is a fake quote from Churchill.
DougG
Posted by: DougG | Friday, 22 May 2009 at 03:44 PM