Comments on: On the buses

By: preachersa2z

preachersa2z — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:50:22 +0000

For me the key question here is about honesty and integrity. No-one should feel obliged to call themselves Christian on account of their parents’ wishes or their heritage. It is something we ‘buy into’ or not, on a personal basis. Wonder what the census will reveal?

By: Spidey

Spidey — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:56:00 +0000

For many (around 20% of the population judging by various surveys and statistics) they consider themselves Christian even though they don’t go to church – and who are we to say they should not?”

Can they not also consider themselves Christian without needing funding for faith schools?

By: The Church Mouse

The Church Mouse — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:53:27 +0000

In reply to Heliopolitan.

Heliopolitan

I don’t agree that the figures were erroneous. They match very closely the results of the ONS’s Integrated Household Survey, which showed over 70% called themselves Christian last year, when asked the question “what is your religion, even if you are not currently practicing”. This question was specifically designed by the ONS to measure religious affiliation, as is the census question.

If you compare them to other measures of religiosity, such as religious belief or religious practice then you do indeed get different results, depending on what you are comparing it to. But that does not make one result wrong – it is just measuring something else.

By: Ernest

Ernest — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:01:34 +0000

Lots of good Christians, do not belong to organized churches. Which does not mean that they do not believe. I don’t believe that their is any such thing as cultural Christianity, just Churched or un-churched or never-churched.

People are free to believe whatever they want and militant secularists still believe in something, whether it is a deity or a set of moral principles, or they would not be so militant.

By: Poor stupid people who need to be told what to think « Nick Baines's Blog

Poor stupid people who need to be told what to think « Nick Baines's Blog — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:55:03 +0000

[…] Read his blog post (‘The religion control freaks are telling you what to think for the 2011 Census’) and then the comments below. For contrast, have a look at Richard Littledale’s recent post. […]

By: Testing out Week 1 of #bigbible

Testing out Week 1 of #bigbible — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:22:08 +0000

[…] about the upcoming census, and wondered how people will define themselves, something that has been raised by Richard Littledale in a pretty busy post […]

By: The Church Mouse

The Church Mouse — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 19:45:10 +0000

In reply to Paul Coyne.

Paul

You can go to church every week and not believe, and you can believe with all your heart and not to go church. Practice and belief are not necessarily connected. Identity is something else again. Clearly you do not self identify as a Christian – fair enough, but that doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t.

For many (around 20% of the population judging by various surveys and statistics) they consider themselves Christian even though they don’t go to church – and who are we to say they should not?

By: Heliopolitan

Heliopolitan — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:31:12 +0000

Hmmm. For some reason my hyperlink doesn’t come up with the iPhone. http://churchofjesuschristatheist.blogspot.com – thoughts welcome 🙂

By: Heliopolitan

Heliopolitan — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:29:16 +0000

@churchmouse, I think you are mistaken here; if the stats from the 2001 question were erroneous (and there is plenty of evidence of that) then it is bananas not to attempt to redress that by getting people to give their actual views. There are very very many people in UK who actually *fear* declaring their apostasy, and a more accurate trace of that in the census record can only help these people and others whose views have been marginalised. I’m not saying the contributors here are guilty of this, but a lot of theistic Christians whinge about being an oppressed minority. Well, prove it by getting people to answer the question honestly, and if they have grown beyond the belief stage, you’ll have your evidence. 🙂

By: preachersa2z

preachersa2z — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:49:20 +0000

In reply to Paul Coyne. Thanks for your comments Paul. Like you - I am a huge fan of honesty when it comes to faith & practice. And no, by the way, I didn't see it as a swastika!