It doesn’t surprise me that there is yet another poll about god beliefs right around the time of another Christian mythology season. On the front page of MSN is a headline that reads “Poll finds 90% believe in God” and the link is to a Newsweek article that states, “The latest NEWSWEEK poll shows that 91 percent of American adults surveyed believe in God—and nearly half reject the theory of evolution.”
What gets me about this particular poll is this little bit:
Although one in ten (10 percent) of Americans identify themselves as having “no religion,” only six percent said they don’t believe in a God at all. Just 3 percent of the public self-identifies as atheist, suggesting that the term may carry some stigma. Still, the poll suggests that the public’s tolerance of this small minority has increased in recent years. Nearly half (47 percent) of the respondents felt the country is more accepting of atheists today that it used to be and slightly more (49 percent) reported personally knowing an atheist.
Now, I admit I am not a math wizard, but if 49% of god-botherers claim to personally know an atheist, how does the percentage of atheists come out to only 3%? (Or there are a lot more atheists than these polls are admitting to.)
The NEWSWEEK Poll, conducted March 28-March 29, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for questions based on all registered voters and plus or minus 6 percentage points for results based on registered Republicans and Republican leaners. In conducting the poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed only 1,004 adults aged 18 and older.
4 comments:
"It's not that I have anything against atheists. Heck, some of my best friends are atheists".
What I don't like about polls and questionnaires is that the questions are often worded in such a way as to elicit and either or response. The questions do not allow for nuanced answers.
For example, a person might be asked "Do you support the troops in Iraq?" The answer is either "Yes" or "No". But what does the question mean to the questioner and what does it mean to the person answering the question.
I support the troops in that I do not want them to be killed or wounded, I want them to get home safely to their families. But I think the war they were sent to fight is the biggest blunder in American foreign policy. So I do not support the war, and I do not support having our troops in Iraq. So how am I suppose to answer the question properly?
BTW Star, I've got an important new post up!
Polls are mostly misleading. Just look at what tommy said.
With that poll I guess 49% of Americans now the 3% of Atheists. Which means that America must really be community based.
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