<bard at dmcom.net> wrote in message news:3D74CB06.74BA at dmcom.net...
> John Knight wrote:
>> >
> > "What is your religion, if any?"
> >
>> What question would you ask? What type of Christian are you?
>
If a pollster wants to at least give the appearance of objectivity, the
proper question is:
"What is your religion?"
Adding "if any" invites a desired response, just as asking "What type of
Christian are you?" does.
> >
> > You say that Wicca increased 1500% to 134,000, and imply that this
> > invalidates the claim that a good portion of the 9% who were designated
as
> > "None" or "undesignated" might actually be Christians.
>> I suspect that the 1500 % increase is because more pagans felt
> comfortable about answering the poll this time then last time as oposed
> to a real growth rate. So I do do postilate that many of the 9% if they
> do have a religion at all, would be a minirity one.
>
?
> >
> > The problem is--9% of Americans is 25.6 million people, so the total
number
> > of Wiccans is is less than 0.6% of that 25.6 million.
>> Yes this is true, I never indicated that Wicca was very numous. There
> are some estimates that appear to indicate more then what the survey did
> indicate. However such estimates are just that using less objective
> models than a phone survey. It would be interesting if the 1500% rate
> of groth is repeated un the next survey (not that I expect that to
> happen) because that would show that there then would be about
> 2,245,000 or just about under 1 %.
>> >
> > This means that, if there are no other "religions" besides Wicca that
this
> > other 9% belong to, and if the rest are Christians, then 94.95% of
Americans
> > are Christians and 0.05% are Wiccans.
>> 77 + 9 = 86
>
That was a reference to the Gallup number of 86% Christians and 9%
unspecified or none.
If there has been any growth of Wicca, you should also bear in mind that
many of them may have Christian parents who failed to teach their children
Christianity, which is easy enough today. Many of them will undoubtedly
grow out of it and comprehend the importance of Christianity as they gain
experience.
John Knight