tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post8544034223200653027..comments2023-10-31T10:57:37.652+00:00Comments on Epiphenom: Manipulative, cynical nonsenseEpiphenomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05420404206189437710noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-76880574033263582612009-02-03T17:14:00.000+00:002009-02-03T17:14:00.000+00:00Theos has a track record of churning out slanted o...Theos has a track record of churning out slanted opinion polls, designed to try to prove some particular point of view and get media rather than shed light on the subject. <BR/><BR/>Their first poll asked the question 'Is religious a virus, like smallpox but only worse?' (i.e. the Dawkins quote). They were hoping to get a popular rejection of Dawkins. Unfortunately, most people they asked agreed with the statement (although they didn't mention that in the press release)Epiphenomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05420404206189437710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-10715158493734674532009-02-03T12:01:00.000+00:002009-02-03T12:01:00.000+00:00Ah, very interesting. I thought something fishy wo...Ah, very interesting. I thought something fishy would have gone on with the wording of the questions. Thank you for analysing the survey so everyone else didn't have to. ;p<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>JackAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-7069033353477649472009-02-03T12:00:00.000+00:002009-02-03T12:00:00.000+00:00Thanks Tor. I see you mean the link in the sideba...Thanks Tor. I see you mean the link in the sidebar - I can't fix that. Admins?! There's a broken link to the Yahoo! group in the sidebar.<BR/><BR/>Konrad, well done on illuminating further problems with this data.Bob Churchillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00989546422159352425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-29002460742093020952009-02-03T10:12:00.000+00:002009-02-03T10:12:00.000+00:00Thanks for that analysis. The results sounded susp...Thanks for that analysis. The results sounded suspect when I heard about them but I did not have the time to check out the original study. Given the mendacious interpretation of the results and the tendentious framing of the questions, I approach even the hard numbers with a somewhat sceptical eye. Yet, if they are accurate, they do seem to suggest something that Theos would not be altogether happy about, i.e. that roughly a third of UK citizens are hard-core atheists who believe that religion is unnecessary and absurd. Not a bad result that. There is a further result that one can squeeze out of this bag of tripe. For each of young Earth creationism, 'theistic evolution' and 'atheistic evolution' one can add up the percentages who thought the alternatives were either definitely true or probably true. Given that the three options are presented as inconsistent with each other, no-one should have assented to more than one of them. That should mean a total of less than 100%. Yet, adding all the numbers, one gets 110, meaning that at least 10% of respondents replied yes to at least two mutually contradictory options. It seems probable that most of these people said yes to the first two options, rather than the third one. If so, then I think Theos has identified their hard-core constituency.Konrad Talmont-Kaminskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05136133369582249025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1051713021757781960.post-45002642586661017772009-02-03T00:09:00.000+00:002009-02-03T00:09:00.000+00:00Bob, your blog is most informative - but - speakin...Bob, your blog is most informative - but - speakin' of thingys folk think are there but ain't.....check your Websites link to the Yahoo Group.<BR/><BR/>I know the Easter story and this one, too.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzY2bVsZK5s" REL="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzY2bVsZK5s</A><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckuqPulRGk" REL="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckuqPulRGk</A><BR/><BR/>Stay on groovin' safari,<BR/>Torhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03037704048671379868noreply@blogger.com