Skip to main content

Lies, Damn Lies and...



Statistics... Don't you love them.


As a long term participant in the Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (I'll do anything for a £10 gift voucher... well, I'll spend half an hour answering relatively simple questions anyway...) I received the latest findings today.


This is based on the 2008 returns, before the current economic downturn really gathered momentum here, but already it has shown a leap in those feeling financially worse off than the previous year (up to 31% from 14%), which in turn has manifested itself ina decrease in the number of people going to the pub once per week or more, down to 14% from 22% back in 2002. However, that trend may be exacerbated by the smoking ban in pubs in the intervening period... although I for one have been happier to go to a pub since that legislation. Whatever the reason these statistics certainly lend substance to the licensees bleating about the downturn in their business.


That is until you look at some of the other findings. Remember, this is a survey of opinions and reported behaviour, rather than hard data reflecting actual behaviour. One of the statistics reported is that 68% of people believe that they are environmentally-friendly in most of the things they do, with 85% of over 65s believing the same. This is obviously nonsense. If it were true our buses would be full to overflowing every day and not just when the Tall Ships are in town, there would be people cycling everywhere and we would not be buying readymeals and pre-prepared veggies from M&S wrapped in 18 layers of packaging. over 65s may be slightly less environmentally hostile, but only because they have free bus passes and aren't quite so addicted to technology and convenience, but to claim that 17 out of every 20 are environmentally friendly is a perfect illustration of how self-deluded we are... Or how unwilling we are to admit to others, even a relative stranger with a computer tablet, that we are not as righteous as we would like to be.


And if that applies to our environmental credentials, how much more does it apply to our religious ones. Here's the religious statistics. Which of these ring true to you?


Only 3% claimed they did not have a religion, unlike the 50% in Scotland, 55% in Wales and 46% in England.


36% claimed they attend religious services or meetings once a week or more, whereas only 9% claim to attend weekly in the rest of the UK. However, recent studies suggest that even these reports are inflated, and that many of those who profess commitment to Christ regard "regular" attendance as once a month or even less.


And finally 30% of people in NI claim that religion makes a great difference in their lives, and 28% say it makes some difference.


They do not say whether that is a positive or a negative difference. But then, I'm not to sure whether we would be any more honest in that response than I feel we have been in any of the others.


Anyone else have any reflections?






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-