On 8/20/09 10:20 PM, "Kiran K Karthikeyan" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Your derision for the science of statistics notwithstanding :), to me it > does seem interesting. I have great respect for that science. I have no derision for it. It is good to know the numbers, but not stereotype people just because of it. > Note how "According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe > that "many religions can lead to eternal life"including 37 percent of white > evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs > alone" is very different from just being tolerant of other religions because > you don't believe in God in the first place. We have no idea why people said what they did in response to the survey. Perhaps they had a different interpretation of the question. Did they have enough time? And I have no idea how that "survey" was conducted. For all you care, it might have been the idiotic "SMS y 567888 for YES" kind of "surveys" too. I am very skeptical of any survey of decisions by human beings unless it is conducted over a long period of time and takes into account enough variables that might affect the survey. OTOH, I am quite willing to trust surveys that measure facts where people cant lie or choose the closest statement that matches their thoughts.
