If It’s There, I’ll Give You The Money Myself II
May 17th, 2009Theos, the self-appointed ‘public theology think-tank’, 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 Christ’ and ‘36% of people of no religion celebrate Christmas as a religious festival’. This one says that 39% of Britons (including 50% of Londoners) believe in ghosts. The margins of error aren’t quoted, but you can work them out and they’re about 39%±2% and 50%±5%. It also says that 22% (±2%) of Britons believe in astrology.
Seriously? You want me to believe that half the population of London actually think that see-through dead people float through the city rattling people’s drawers? I’m sorry, but that simply isn’t plausible to me. I know people are easily led and a bit gullible. I accept that. But I thought Theos said that 34% of people believe in Jesus and 33% say they’re not sure. You can’t simultaneously accept Christianity and believe in ghosts, and that only leaves 32%. Okay, so there are error margins on this but I don’t for a second accept that all atheists believe in ghosts — because I’m one and I don’t. Someone would have taken a photograph by now. I don’t think there’s anything that exists that hasn’t been photographed, aside perhaps from the Higgs Boson.
The director of Theos, Paul Wooley, said
The extent of belief will probably surprise people, but the finding is consistent with other research we have undertaken.
It’s consistent in that they all report implausibly high belief in ridiculous ideas, yes. Then he said
The results indicate that people have a very diverse and unorthodox set of beliefs.
…which I thought very charitable to the respondents.
I think what Theos are increasingly discovering is that surveys can’t be trusted. They are repeatedly finding that a sizable fraction of the population will say yes to anything you care to ask them. I’m quite prepared to believe that London is an unusually credulous city, but given that the 2001 survey tells me that 1.4% of its population is Jedi, I’m tempted to think it might also be a city that doesn’t poll well.
And astrology? Really? Surely by now everyone in the world knows that astrology columns are just written by whoever happens to be passing at the time, with no thought or reference to any source of knowledge, just like the science reporting. I don’t believe that 22% of the population think that the stars and planets control their lives. I don’t accept that a fifth of the people I see in the street really believe that the arbitrary shapes drawn in the sky by convention dictate their fortune.
Are they counting ‘I suppose there might be something in it’ as a yes? Are they excluding ‘I don’t know’ responses from the results? Did they phone round houses in the middle of the day? We don’t know, because Theos’ press release doesn’t say. But any of those seems more likely than 4 million Londoners believing in ghosts. Nobody believes in ghosts. It’s a lunatic fringe belief, like crop circles or fairies.
Tags for this article: Surveys , Theos
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May 18th, 2009 at 02:20
Very interesting. As you say, most surveys just prove that most surveys prove nothing! However, your argument that “you can`t simultaneously accept Christianity and believe in ghosts” has a basic flaw, I`m afraid: human nature being what it is, most people are quite capable of believing in any number of conflicting theories at the same time without so much as batting an eyebrow – they just don`t have such a logical or rational view of things! Also, I met Higgs Boson while on holiday in Cleethorpes once, and actually took a photograph of him there, so you are quite wrong on that count too. Would you like me to send you a copy?
May 18th, 2009 at 09:48
That depends what you mean by ‘believe’. Most people are woefully unaware of their motives for doing many things. People are more than capable of claiming to hold contradictory beliefs, but if asked ‘what happens when you die’ they can’t simultaneously say ‘you go to heaven’ and ‘you become a ghost’. It seems perfectly reasonable to me that someone might think they believe something while their actions clearly betray that they don’t. The alternative is that their beliefs don’t influence their actions, in which case, who cares what they think?
May 18th, 2009 at 13:29
People can be quite ingenious at reconciling contradictory beliefs – especially when they don’t require any empirical verification.
I know a few Christians who also believe in ghosts – those who have given it some thought seem to think that it only affects a handful of souls, and probably works along the lines of purgatory.
Live a Christian life – heaven. Live a sinners life – hell. Get hit by a truck after being dumped by the love of your life – ghost.
Or something like that.
None of them have a decent answer for why ghosts are so camera shy.
May 18th, 2009 at 15:55
You are quite correct really Andrew. It was Professor Joad who would have said: “It all depends what you mean by `believe`”, and that is the crux of the matter here. They don`t actually believe ANY of this bullshit at all. If they really did believe that the God of The Bible existed: that heaven and hell were real places: that the “unsaved” were going to spend an eternity in Hell being punished for their unbelief; and that eternal salvation was ONLY to be found in Jesus Christ (all of which is clearly taught by the New Testament), is it really feasible that they would be happily continuing with their self-centred, hedonistic lifestyles? I somehow think not! And what about “prayer”? I have said quite a bit on this topic @ http://thebeattitude.com (James Dobson post) so I won`t repeat it all here; but if God really listens to their prayers, and has the power to do anything, shouldn`t all these “Christians” be living a totally monastic life, devoted to praying for the good of mankind, so that God will be enabled to overthrow the forces of evil? As for the question of “believing” totally conflicting things, I absolutely love Lewis Carroll: “`I daresay you haven`t had much practice,` said the Queen…`sometimes I`ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.`” Sheer genius!!
May 19th, 2009 at 09:12
I see that a photograph recently taken in his museum at Berkeley (Glos) supposedly shows the ghostly form of Edward Jenner, sitting in a chair in the attic! A pox on them all!!
June 16th, 2009 at 14:23
“Surely by now everyone in the world knows that astrology columns are just written by whoever happens to be passing at the time, with no thought or reference to any source of knowledge, just like the science reporting.”
Totally priceless! Will quote/steal.