tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5743370102334877264.post6978206111669445164..comments2023-04-05T09:07:08.419-07:00Comments on Fides et Ratio: 50 Million Atheists in the U.S.? Unlikely...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07034462951274070391noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5743370102334877264.post-61994557564018074132013-12-23T09:54:25.048-08:002013-12-23T09:54:25.048-08:00I don't really think it's necessary to att...I don't really think it's necessary to attempt to impugn Silverman's integrity; he seems to be quite apt at doing that himself vis-a-vis his debates and public persona. He is nothing more than a village atheist that happens to be famous to a certain degree.Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13774540413302893470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5743370102334877264.post-30657009704741881302013-12-22T04:17:01.151-08:002013-12-22T04:17:01.151-08:00I believe it was the harris online poll, which ten...I believe it was the harris online poll, which tends to get different numbers from other polls.Crudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04178390947423928444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5743370102334877264.post-55214881837940387312013-12-21T16:12:09.251-08:002013-12-21T16:12:09.251-08:00Thanks for your comments, guys. Saintsandsaints, ...Thanks for your comments, guys. Saintsandsaints, I agree with you about the uncertainty of scientific surveys. My point was just that folks like Silverman misuse (whether intentionally or unintentionally) the results of these surveys. And yes, deductive arguments are a much better way of assessing truth than any survey. :)<br /><br />Crude, I hadn't heard of that survey. Do you know who did the analysis? I'm just curious because that's a huge discrepancy from virtually every other survey, which conclude that atheism has only maintained 2 to 3% of the U.S. population's views since the beginning of these surveys (early 1900's).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07034462951274070391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5743370102334877264.post-64431461746085642552013-12-17T19:09:16.135-08:002013-12-17T19:09:16.135-08:00Well, there's a recent poll out on this which ...Well, there's a recent poll out on this which may shed more light on the claims. 9% and 7% either somewhat certain or absolutely certain there is no God. If you'd take those to be atheists, it looks like 50 million comes pretty close.<br /><br />On the other hand, they may not take themselves to be atheists.Crudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04178390947423928444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5743370102334877264.post-78486099512163496142013-12-16T18:48:34.975-08:002013-12-16T18:48:34.975-08:00As a person who has been trained in creating surve...As a person who has been trained in creating surveys to gauge religious belief, I think a lot of the inconsistencies and weirdness to be found in surveys (the percentage of atheists who believe in God, for instance) should just show us that we ought to have a healthy skepticism of self-report surveys to begin with. A survey doesn't measure a person's attitudes or beliefs, it measures what people say their attitudes and beliefs are. This is a big difference.<br /><br />And that is not even getting into the reductive nature of questions themselves. If I say I believe in God but it doesn't have any measurable effect on my behavior, then what exactly is the survey question measuring? Some sort of flat assent to the truth-value of the question perhaps, but not much more than that. Furthermore people are fickle - on some days they might be full-hearted believers, but the next day fall back onto some kind of weak Pascal's Wager and nothing more.<br /><br />So ironically perhaps, knowing more about the process and procedures of social science makes me way more skeptical about the results that we obtain from those processes. That's why I envy philosophers like you who can focus on deductive arguments and not aggregates of questionable data from fickle human beings!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com