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American Religious Traditions, Orthodoxy, and Commitment in Public Opinion toward Torture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2014

H. Whitt Kilburn  and
Brian J. Fogarty
H. Whitt Kilburn*
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University
Brian J. Fogarty*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri – Saint Louis
*
Address correspondence and reprint request to: H. Whitt Kilburn, Grand Valley State University, Political Science Department, 1121 AuSable Hall, Allendale, MI 49401. E-mail: kilburnw@mail.gvsu.edu
Brian J. Fogarty, University of Missouri – Saint Louis, Department of Political Science, 347 SSB, St. Louis, MO 63121. E-mail: fogartyb@umsl.edu
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Abstract

The conventional wisdom on evangelical American Protestant support for the use of torture on suspected terrorists is incorrect. With data from the 2008 American National Election Studies survey, we specify the interactive influence of religious traditions on attitudes toward torture by religious commitment and belief orthodoxy. Only at low orthodoxy, and low to average commitment, are Catholics, mainline, and black Protestants more likely to support torture than the unaffiliated; the effect for evangelical Protestants is null. Greater commitment moves most traditions and the unaffiliated toward increased opposition to torture. Stronger orthodoxy, however, leads to support for torture only for the unaffiliated. The findings persist given controls for demographic characteristics, party identification, left-right self-placement, and authoritarian values.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 36 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2014 

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