Presbyterians for Spiking the Football?

Here is an interesting figure and I really don’t know what to think about it. I often conceive of the remnant in America of what used to be called “Mainline Protestantism” (Disciples of Christ, Episcopalians, Mainline Lutherans, United Methodists, Presbyterians (USA), United Church of Christ) as more liberal than so-called Evangelical Christians. Most of these denominations’ institutional faces support very liberal economic policies, several of these denominations allow for practicing gay clergy and even gay marriage, and most of the anti-war sentiment has been focused within these denominations (at least while Republicans are President, but that’s an issue I’ve addressed in other posts). But this report from the Public Religion Research Institute really surprised me. It asks a simple question:

***Does the Scripture Passage “Do Not Rejoice When Your Enemies Fall” apply to Bin Laden?***

The full NIV citation is:

Proverbs 24: 17 – 18

“Do not gloat when your enemy falls;

When he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice

Or the Lord will see and disapprove

And turn his wrath away from him.”

Among all the groups surveyed (Minority/Christian, White Evangelical Protestant, Catholic, Unaffiliated, and Mainline Protestant) it was the Mainline Protestants who were the least supportive of this Biblical wisdom. White Evangelicals accepted the scripture as applicable by 66-24; mainline Protestants by only 53-32. What’s up with this?

(Thanks to hotair.com for the tip to the link).