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General Discussion => The Buzz => Topic started by: GillE on April 13, 2009, 09:58

Title: Most Britons 'Believe In Heaven'
Post by: GillE on April 13, 2009, 09:58
Link (http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/Four_in_ten_people_believe_in_ghosts.aspx?ArticleID=3015&PageID=14&RefPageID=5)

I'm trying to get my head around how '55% believe in heaven, while 53% believe in life after death'.  Wouldn't a belief in life after death be a pre-requisite of a belief in heaven?  Or is there 2% of the population who believe heaven is denied to mortals?

I wonder how the beliefs of different religions were taken into account for this survey.  I should imagine only the three Judaic religions would see life and death in those terms.

I reckon the survey is more interesting for the questions it raises rather than the questions it answers.  For instance, it claims more of us believe in ghosts than we did in the 1950s, yet the only data the survey provides relates to questions asked in 2008!  Publication seems to have taken a while.

Has anyone else noticed how these surveys seem to get published on a Monday morning when the media is clamouring for something - anything - to report after a quiet weekend?  In our house 'Monday Morning Surveys' and 'Monday Morning Scientists' are a bit of a running joke.
Title: Re: Most Britons 'Believe In Heaven'
Post by: Serenity on April 13, 2009, 10:15
Quote from: GillE on April 13, 2009, 09:58
Link (http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/Four_in_ten_people_believe_in_ghosts.aspx?ArticleID=3015&PageID=14&RefPageID=5)

Has anyone else noticed how these surveys seem to get published on a Monday morning when the media is clamouring for something - anything - to report after a quiet weekend?  In our house 'Monday Morning Surveys' and 'Monday Morning Scientists' are a bit of a running joke.


I totally agree with you Gill, I used to work on a newspaper many moons ago and nothing has changed, they sat on relatively rubbish information for some time and only if there wasn't anything of real intrest to report at the start of the week would they dust off the cobwebs and hail these so called surveys as having just been compiled.... hence, never believe what you read in the newspapers!

Oh and the god squad item, of course there's a heaven  ;)  :o:
Title: Re: Most Britons 'Believe In Heaven'
Post by: Simon on April 13, 2009, 22:29
I think the bigger question is, who cares?  People can believe what they like, as long as they don't bother me with it.  :)
Title: Re: Most Britons 'Believe In Heaven'
Post by: Sandra on April 14, 2009, 00:57
The trouble though Simon is that those people are entitled to vote and are allowed to walk around outside unsupervised  :o :o :o
Title: Re: Most Britons 'Believe In Heaven'
Post by: chorleydave on April 14, 2009, 01:28
It's possible.  After all, most British believed in Tony Blair! :laugh: