Comments on: If It’s There, I’ll Give You The Money Myself. http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/2008/12/14/if-its-there-ill-give-you-the-money-myself/ Floccinaucinihilipilificating antidisestablishmentarianism since 2001. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:03:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Apathy Sketchpad » Blog Archive » If It’s There, I’ll Give You The Money Myself II http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/2008/12/14/if-its-there-ill-give-you-the-money-myself/comment-page-1/#comment-5620 Apathy Sketchpad » Blog Archive » If It’s There, I’ll Give You The Money Myself II Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:18:29 +0000 http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/?p=956#comment-5620 [...] whatever precisely a ‘think-tank’ actually is, have done another survey. Their last one, you may recall, reached such eminently plausible conclusions as ‘38% of Jews believe in the virgin birth of [...] [...] whatever precisely a ‘think-tank’ actually is, have done another survey. Their last one, you may recall, reached such eminently plausible conclusions as ‘38% of Jews believe in the virgin birth of [...]

]]> By: Andrew http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/2008/12/14/if-its-there-ill-give-you-the-money-myself/comment-page-1/#comment-5327 Andrew Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:07:21 +0000 http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/?p=956#comment-5327 @SupSuper: Those are Pingback Spams: a spam-blog actually links here, so it's indistinguishable from a real blog linking here. Happens from time to time, especially in days of high traffic. I just delete them. @manigen: It's possible. I'm certain you'd get a higher response from “Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary” than, say “Jesus was born to a virgin”, just because the in first one can sound like you're accepting that he was born to a virgin, and questioning the name. To be honest, I'd really want to use three questions: “Jesus was born”, “Jesus was born to a virgin” and “Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary”. But to be honest, I doubt if these surveys are any use anyway: what people claim to believe is irrelevant compared to what beliefs they actually act on. I bet that the number of people who attend a Christmas mass is less than this survey says it will be. @SupSuper:
Those are Pingback Spams: a spam-blog actually links here, so it’s indistinguishable from a real blog linking here. Happens from time to time, especially in days of high traffic. I just delete them.

@manigen:
It’s possible. I’m certain you’d get a higher response from “Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary” than, say “Jesus was born to a virgin”, just because the in first one can sound like you’re accepting that he was born to a virgin, and questioning the name.

To be honest, I’d really want to use three questions: “Jesus was born”, “Jesus was born to a virgin” and “Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary”. But to be honest, I doubt if these surveys are any use anyway: what people claim to believe is irrelevant compared to what beliefs they actually act on. I bet that the number of people who attend a Christmas mass is less than this survey says it will be.

]]> By: manigen http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/2008/12/14/if-its-there-ill-give-you-the-money-myself/comment-page-1/#comment-5326 manigen Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:44:32 +0000 http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/?p=956#comment-5326 Do you think many of the people who took the survey actually noticed the word "virgin"? If the statement was part of a list, and someone was reciting it to you or you were skim reading, it would be really easy to skip that bit and only register "Jesus ... born ... Mary". It seems like a minor point, but if Theos wanted to justify a statement like "more than a third of Britons believe that the virgin birth really happened" then they should have included a question like "I believe that the virgin birth really happened (true/false)". Otherwise they're being dishonest, and that's hardly christian now is it? Do you think many of the people who took the survey actually noticed the word “virgin”? If the statement was part of a list, and someone was reciting it to you or you were skim reading, it would be really easy to skip that bit and only register “Jesus … born … Mary”.

It seems like a minor point, but if Theos wanted to justify a statement like “more than a third of Britons believe that the virgin birth really happened” then they should have included a question like “I believe that the virgin birth really happened (true/false)”. Otherwise they’re being dishonest, and that’s hardly christian now is it?

]]> By: SupSuper http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/2008/12/14/if-its-there-ill-give-you-the-money-myself/comment-page-1/#comment-5325 SupSuper Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:54:05 +0000 http://www.apathysketchpad.com/blog/?p=956#comment-5325 Looks like you got the attention of some spam virus. Looks like you got the attention of some spam virus.

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