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I don't know a thing about religion or theology, so take this with a huge grain of salt. But I still don't really buy the accuracy of these numbers for the mat
by bhauer 13y ago
I don't know a thing about religion or theology, so take this with a huge grain of salt.
But I still don't really buy the accuracy of these numbers for the matter at hand here. I suspect that when asked by a pollster, someone who answers affirmative to this question is doing so because their religion has told them to believe that.
The pollster probably doesn't ask a follow-up question of the form, "C'mon, really?" I suspect the answer would often be, "Yeah, not really. But the priest/minister/religion-dude/whatever says it a whole bunch, plus it's in that book we are forced to read over and over."
People like to have their pet beliefs that they know to be factually incorrect. I like to believe my taste in music is superior to just about everyone else's. But it's not.
Apologies for my sacrilege here if you are religious.
- jlgreco 13y ago> The pollster probably doesn't ask a follow-up question of the form, "C'mon, really?" I suspect the answer would often be, "Yeah, not really. But the priest/minister/religion-dude/whatever says it a whole bunch, plus it's in that book we are forced to read over and over." Yes, if the pollster started bullying people who answered one way, that would probably warp the results... those polls are performed by polling organizations that are well regarded because they don't try to warp their polling results like that. The mere fact that so many Americans would answer that way, even if they didn't honestly believe it 6 days out of the week, is 1) notable, 2) disturbing.
- LokiSnake 13y agoThe numbers probably aren't accurate for big coastal cities, but when you take all of the States into account, it isn't inconceivable.