AlterNet: The Growing Clout of Atheists and Non-Believers
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 11:33 AM and filed under Politics, Religion. Follow comments here with the RSS 2.0 feed. Skip to the end and leave a response. Trackbacks are closed.
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Actually, all this really does is validate the recent Pew Religious Landscape Survey of the U.S., but “spins” the results slightly differently. Thus, while it is true that the number of “nonreligious” people is growing (slightly), this study seems to conflate some “nonaffiliated” people with “nonreligious” people. That is, it seems to count some of those who have “fallen away” from “mainline” churches as simply not “religious” anymore. That is an incorrect assumption.
Keep in mind that the results of any survey will be dependent on the questions asked and how those questions are worded. It seems clear to me that this survey either did not ask the right questions or worded questions such that certain “results” would follow.
I am not suggesting that either the Pew study or this one is entirely faulty, or that the overall results are not correct. But from my reading of the two surveys, it seems pretty clear to me that this one is not only not as “accurate” as the Pew study, but that its questions and/or the wording of those questions, whether intentionally or not, led to certain conclusions that may be faulty.
As an aside, although it is true that Obama made that wonderful, inclusive comment at his inauguration – and I believe that he sincerely means it – keep in mind that he himself is a practicing Christian, and that his “inner faith circle” is comprised of five ministers (including the wonderful Rev. Jim Wallis).
Peace.
Posted on 20-Mar-09 at 8:23 am | Permalink