What Kind Of A Question Is That?
In a new poll, when asked the UK 2011 Census question ‘What is your religion?’, 61% of respondents in England and Wales ticked a religious box* (53.48% Christian and 7.22% other) while 39% ticked ‘No religion’.
However, when asked ‘Are you religious?’, only 29% of the same people said ‘Yes’ while 65% said ‘No’, meaning over half of those whom the UK census would count as having a religion said they were not religious. A fine example of how a 'leading question' affects the answer?
Oddly, in the same poll, less than half (48%) of those who ticked ‘Christian’ said they believed that 'Jesus Christ was a real person who died and came back to life and was the son of God'.
All together now [in your best North of England accent]: "E, lad. There's nowt so queer as folk!"
In other circumstances, you could take a leaf from Lynryd Skynyrd's book...
Lynyrd_Skynyrd_-_Don't_Ask_Me_No_Questions.mp3
Listen on Posterous
...but you don't have that luxury if you receive a UK Census form. Those who refuse to complete the census questionnaire, or include false information, could face a £1,000 fine.
* Is a 'religious box' the same as a 'confessional'?
Lynryd Skynyrd - Second Helping at Amazon UK
No comments have been added yet.
