I was replying in the comments section to some arguments about my last post on the PEW poll and disproportionate LDS involvement in torture, but I ended up in territory that I decided merited a post of its own.

For years many Christians have accused Pagans of not having a firm foundation for ethical behavior.  In his challenging essay Cakes for the Queen of Heaven,   the brilliant sociologist of religion, Peter Berger,   wrote an important essay on why transcendental monotheism was superior to a focus on the immanent Divine Feminine.  Years ago one very bright evangelical even suggested to me that without the Christian example we would return to human sacrifice.  I believe both have since moderated their views, but a great many less discerning minds have not.

Aggressively judgmental Christians have made similar attacks on secular
Americans.  They say they, and no one else, speaks for morality because
they are in line with their god’s commands, and the rest of us are in
“rebellion.”  At one time the Fundamentalist wing of this group called themselves “The Moral Majority,”
modestly suggesting the rest of us were the “Immoral Minority.”

This recent PEW poll, even with its weaknesses, indicates that arguments such as these are bull roar.  The trend PEW found was clear: the more you
go to church the less likely you were to oppose torture no matter how
defined.  
Embarrassed evangelicals can attack the margin of error as
insufficiently small to pinpoint them as the worst, but if the poll errors there, the deeper finding that
greater church going correlates with greater acceptance of torture
remains.

This poll came to my attention the same day as did a strong connection
between some LDS members and the actual implementation of torture.  And
the LDS as an institution has been very busy parading their claims to
moral superiority over many of the rest of us as of late.

As an institution the LDS been particularly aggressive in attacking gay
marriage, providing an enormous amount of the funds used to pass
California’s Prop.8.  Just a few days ago the very good Sci Fi writer
(I’ll give the devil his due) Orson Scott Card,  was made a Board Member
of the National Association for Marriage.  They are the people who gave
us the dishonest and incredibly over the top “gathering storm” ad.    NOM bills itself as
not being anti-gay, but Card wants gays criminalized and even advocates
ARMED RESISTANCE against any government that legalizes gay marriage.
The very existence of gay marriage is an act of intolerance.  If
Californians had not passed Prop 8,  he would
advocate taking up arms against them.  He did this in a major Mormon
publication. 

Now we find LDS members are also disproportionately involved in depraved moral reasoning and actions.

I think those Christians who set themselves aside as morally superior
to other Americans have a LOT of explaining to do.  If they do not like
the poll, put the issue to rest by having another with bigger samples
and more differentiation.

I make a prediction: If it is repeated on a bigger scale, the PEW
poll’s findings will be confirmed. 

I will make another prediction. 
The more legalistic and literal the interpretation of their scripture,
the stronger the correlation will be.  This is because literalism is a
matter of mind and will, not of the heart.  

Spirit cannot be served by mind and will alone: but Sauron can.