On September 25, 2021, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) published the results of a new survey on American attitudes regarding the January 6 attack on the Capitol.  The results indicate that these attitudes, which have not changed significantly since January, continue to show a major partisan divide in the nation on blame for the January 6 riots.  The researchers summarized their finding as follows:

“According to new data from PRRI, majorities of Americans say white supremacist groups (59%), former president Donald Trump (56%), and conservative media platforms that spread conspiracy theories and misinformation (55%) shoulder a lot of responsibility for the violent actions of the rioters who took over the U.S. Capitol on January 6. These views have stayed remarkably stable since mid-January, when 62% placed a lot of blame on white supremacist groups, 57% on Trump, and 57% on conservative media platforms that spread misinformation.”

In addition to white supremacist groups, the former president and conservative media platforms that spread misinformation, the survey looked at the impact of some additional groups and concluded:

“Additionally, about four in ten Americans put a lot of the blame for the Capitol riot on Republican leaders (41%), and 29% put a lot of the blame on white conservative Christian groups. Despite the lack of any credible evidence that substantial numbers of liberal or left-wing groups participated in the riot, 38% put a lot of blame on these groups.”

While this summary clearly shows that a majority of Americans place the blame on white supremacist groups, on the former president and on conservative media platforms, the results reveal a serious divide in the way Americans view the event, based on their political and religious affiliations.  This is, of course, surprising since the attack was widely televised, and one would have expected that everybody saw roughly the same thing.

Figure 1 below shows how party affiliation influences the blame attributed to the categories examined by the survey. An overwhelming majority of democrats (83%) and a smaller majority of independents (59%) blame white supremacist groups for the riots.  In contrast, only 17% of Republicans who trust far-right media outlets (such as Newsmax and One America News Network) and 25% of Republicans who trust Fox News blame white supremacist groups, while 61% of Republicans who trust broadcast network news (such as ABC, NBC and CBS) blame those groups.  This picture only changes slightly regarding blame attributed to conservative media platforms that spread conspiracy theories and misinformation.

The divide is even bigger when it comes to blame attributed to the former president: 89% of Democrats, 57% of independents and 50% of Republicans who trust broadcast network news attribute blame to him, while only 3% of Republicans who trust far right news sources or Fox News blame him.

The situation is reversed regarding blame attributed to liberal/left-wing activists such as Antifa.  As noted above, there is no evidence that these activists were involved in the January 6 riots.  However, they are blamed by 76% of Republicans who trust far-right news sources, 69% of Republicans who trust Fox News and 53% of Republicans who trust broadcast network news.  In contrast, 27% of Democrats and 34% of independents blame liberal/left-wing activists.

The chart also shows that few Republicans (<21%) or Independents (27%) blame white conservative Christian groups.  In fact, less than a majority of Democrats (48%) blame white conservative Christian groups.

Figure 2 shows how various religious affiliations assign blame for the January 6 riots.  White evangelical Protestants are of particular interest: Only 8% of them blame conservative white Christian groups, while a majority of them (57%) blames liberal/left-wing activists.  Only 16% of them blame Republican leaders, 26% blame the former president, 34% blame conservative media platforms and 36% blame white supremacist groups.

A noticeable difference between white evangelical Protestants and other religious groups is seen in a significant increase, among the other religious groups, in the percentage that blames white conservative Christians and Republican leaders, and a significant decrease in the percentage that blames liberal/left-wing activists.  At the same time, those non-evangelicals see a substantial increase in their percentages blaming white supremacist groups, the former president and conservative media sources.  This is particularly clear in the responses given by black Protestants: While 35% of them blame liberal/left-wing activists and 41% blame white conservative Christians, 80% of them blame white supremacist groups, 79% blame the former president, 66% blame conservative media outlets and 62% blame Republican leaders.

The Researchers studied the impact of views on the link between violent rhetoric and violent actions on blame attribution to the groups examined by the study.  They concluded the following:

“Nearly six in ten Americans (56%) say that harsh and violent language in politics contributes “a lot” to violent actions in society today, compared to 60% in January 2021. An additional 33% say it contributes a little, slightly up from 30% in January, and only 10% say harsh and violent political language does not contribute at all to violent action, virtually the same as in January (9%).”

They also found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to see a link between violent rhetoric and violent actions:

“Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to say that harsh and violent language contributes a lot to violent actions (75% vs. 40%), views that have not shifted significantly since January (79% and 37%, respectively). A slightly smaller majority of independents (54%) think that violent language contributes a lot to violent action today than in January (61%).”

Since any reader of the New Testament would logically conclude that Jesus and his disciples were non-violent both in rhetoric and action, this puts a question mark on the claim by Republicans that they are the party of family values and religion.

The chart below (Figure 6) presents the findings on the impact of violent language.  The authors summarize those results with the following statement:

“Majorities of Americans who think that harsh and violent language contributes a lot to violent actions today assign a lot of responsibility to white supremacist groups (74%), Donald Trump (74%), conservative media platforms that spread conspiracy theories and misinformation (72%), and Republican leaders (57%) for the violent actions of the rioters who took over the Capitol. Fewer assign a lot of responsibility to white conservative Christian groups (41%) or liberal or left-wing activists (37%). By contrast, among Americans who think that harsh and violent language has no influence on violent actions today, one in five or less blame any of these groups, except for liberal or left-wing activists, for the events of January 2021.”

The survey results also provided insights on additional considerations:

• Unsurprisingly, smaller percentages of those who have a favorable view of Trump tended to blame white supremacist groups, the former president and conservative media outlets for the January 6 riots, while the opposite was true for those who have an unfavorable view of Trump.
• Smaller percentages of those who believe the 2020 election was stolen tended to blame white supremacist groups, the former president and conservative media outlets for the January 6 riots, while the opposite was true for those who do not believe the election was stolen.
• Smaller percentages of QAnon believers tended to blame white supremacist groups, the former president and conservative media outlets for the January 6 riots, while the opposite was true for QAnon rejectors.

Considering that the events of January 6 occurred in plain view and were witnessed by Americans and the whole world, the facts associated with them are not a matter of opinion.  Indeed, on the day of their occurrence, Republican leaders such as Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell denounced the perpetrators and their leader, the former president.  The burden of proof is on them to explain why, all of a sudden, they embraced a different narrative, a move that can be interpreted by any reasonable observer as hypocritical and politically motivated.

The fact that white evangelical Protestants, Trump’s strongest supporters, choose to blame liberal/left-wing activists, even though there is no evidence to support their claims, is obviously cause for concern.  The fact that all other religious affiliations are much less inclined to blame liberal/left-wing activists further weakens the claims of white evangelical Protestants.  In addition, it is becoming clear that Trump supporters are increasingly compelled to take two contradictory positions: They blame left-wing activists, and therefore condemn the January 6 events, but at the same time, they make public statements in support of the insurrectionists, saying that the riots were nothing more than a peaceful protest.

It seems to me there are only two possibilities:

• White evangelical Protestants are misinformed because, as suggested by the data, they trust the wrong sources of information since they trust conservative media platforms that spread conspiracy theories and misinformation, or
• White evangelical Protestants are fully aware of the facts but choose to distort them in their quest for power.

None of these two possibilities is a good one, but from a biblical perspective, the second one is much worse.  Indeed, Jesus’ teaching makes it very clear that those who knowingly do evil are held more accountable than those who do evil out of ignorance:

“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:47-48)

Jesus’ own statement of forgiveness on the cross is a simple illustration of that principle: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

But the increased accountability for those who have full knowledge of what they are doing is also linked to what Jesus calls blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin (Mark 3:28-29).  I add here the commentary provided by John Shelby Spong on that sin, as he appropriately put it in the context of the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his time, who accused him of healing a sick person by the power of the devil:

“Can God or does God operate outside the boundaries of traditional synagogue definitions? The religious leaders seem not to think so, for instead of rejoicing in the presence of this newly restored human life, they begin a concerted attack on Jesus’ credentials. They claim he cures by demonic, not godly, power. These leaders see goodness, but they call it evil! Their distortions have become so total that when the work of the spirit is on display, they define it as the work of Satan. This is what Jesus pronounces to be the one “unforgivable sin.” Yom Kippur cannot cleanse this sin. It is too deep a distortion. If one confuses cleanness with uncleanness, if one confuses sickness with health, brokenness with wholeness, the life of God with the life of Satan, then there is no hope of forgiveness. Such a life is lived in total darkness, total uncleanness. No one can be cleansed of sin unless that one has some awareness of sin. No one can come to the light if that person is not aware that he or she lives in darkness.”

By the way, the unforgivable sin, as defined by Jesus, obviously is neither abortion nor homosexuality, the two issues that seem to preoccupy conservative Christians more than anything else.

While those who sin in ignorance are treated more leniently by New Testament ethics, those who knowingly mislead others are not so lucky:

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”