American religious traditions, orthodoxy, and commitment in public opinion toward torture

Fogarty, B. and Kilburn, H. W. (2015) American religious traditions, orthodoxy, and commitment in public opinion toward torture. Politics and Religion, 8(1), pp. 36-59. (doi: 10.1017/S1755048314000777)

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.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fogarty, Dr Brian
• Authors: Fogarty, B., and Kilburn, H. W.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Journal Name: Politics and Religion
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 1755-0483
• ISSN (Online): 1755-0491