Census - other Religion option?

meghatronic · 27 Mar 2011 at 12:43

zipp0r said:
what happens if you dont fill in this census thing? i got one but cant be bothered with it :/

A 100-STRONG army of census enforcers has been given police powers to gather criminal evidence against householders who fail to complete tomorrow’s national survey.
Anyone who repeatedly refuses to take part will face criminal prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000 as the Office for National Statistics steps up efforts to catch evaders.

Telegraph.

Castiel · 27 Mar 2011 at 12:45

Nitefly said:
Surely being a member of a religion is just a badge you label yourself with? Some christians will think other christians are bad christians and vice versa, there is no 'right' way to be a christian. I see it as no more than having it as a 'clan name' in a videogame. My mother never goes to church but says she is a christian, who am I to say otherwise that she shouldn't call herself a christian.

I think people are way overcomplicating this issue, but for the record, I'm going with it being a yes or no question

Do you label yourself with suuch a badge? Nope? Then the answer is surely no.

I kinda agree with you, however the issue I have is the wearing the No-Religion badge often gets translated as Atheist.

I am not that either, so it seems pertinent to skip the question until such time that the question is less ambiguous and less open to interpretation.

Castiel · 27 Mar 2011 at 12:46

zipp0r said:
what happens if you dont fill in this census thing? i got one but cant be bothered with it :/

You get a prize......the opportunity to help plug the deficit to the tune of £1000 fine.

Mangochutney · 27 Mar 2011 at 12:51

Bimey!!
Didn't expect this much response, I suppose a religion question will always cause debate.
I did select the 'None' box btw, it was childish of me to even consider the Jedi option. Just wondered if anyone had done it.
I didn't do a search but did look at the last 2 pages of threads. I thought there would be more talk about the Census seen as it has to be filled in today.

zipp0r · 27 Mar 2011 at 12:55

meghatronic said:
Telegraph.

lol how pathetic is that

Destination · 27 Mar 2011 at 13:09

The Northern Ireland question is better.

What religion are you
catholic
coi
pres
metho
other
none

if none, what religion were you born into?

should give interesting stats on how many of each faith have given up the ghost so to speak

Rainmaker · 27 Mar 2011 at 13:20

Hikari Kisugi said:
should give interesting stats on how many of each faith have given up the ghost so to speak

I know it's beyond the scope of the census, but more in-depth questioning like that would have provided some very interesting results I think. Current religion (with options for agnostic, ignostic and other), as well as questions about previous religion (whether baptised into it or otherwise), would have been greatly interesting.

I can see both sides of the 'No religion' issue. Though I do have to say 'no religion' does come a little too close to 'atheist' for people like Castiel, so I can see his point. More options on the form would have been a better idea I think, and wouldn't have done any harm. Perhaps something like 'religion x, no formal religion, agnostic, atheist' or something.

TheVoice · 27 Mar 2011 at 13:22

zipp0r said:
lol how pathetic is that

Why is it pathetic? So many people wouldn't do it otherwise, because like you they "can't be bothered". The information is useful - if not vital - for many reasons, it takes no effort and very little time to do (especially online).

semi-pro waster · 27 Mar 2011 at 13:54

meghatronic said:
This is the problem, I appreciate we're reading too much into it. But I value the Census, and want to make sure I'm as unambiguous as possible. Which is why I (& Castiel it seems) left it blank.

I can appreciate why you read the question the way you do so although I disagree with that particular interpretation I can respect your (and Castiel's) position because at least you've thought about it.

If someone has thought about something and come to a different conclusion from me then I can have no issue with that, it's when they clearly don't think about the issue before holding forth an opinion that it irks me somewhat.

Russinating · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:00

I put Jedi. Yes it's childish, and I don't care: it replicates my feeling about religion much more accurately than 'None'.

MattU · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:01

No it doesn't, it means you go into the pile of nerds who put Jedi instead of the results of people with no religion.

Russinating · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:06

Yes, it does.

And if not one of the thousands of statisticians who'll work on this can't figure out that for all intensive purposes that those two groups should be merged then what hope do we have.

Nerd? Get a grip.

zipp0r · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:08

TheVoice said:
Why is it pathetic? So many people wouldn't do it otherwise, because like you they "can't be bothered". The information is useful - if not vital - for many reasons, it takes no effort and very little time to do (especially online).

because they want to FORCE people to fill out their rubbish. i dont want to and nor should i have to. clear enuff for you?

Castiel · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:11

zipp0r said:
because they want to FORCE people to fill out their rubbish. i dont want to and nor should i have to. clear enuff for you?

Just fill out the form. You don't have to do it, you can pay £1000 instead. Your choice, but it will be the most expensive 10 minutes you think you saved in your life no doubt.

MattU · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:12

Why would they know to move you to none rather than blank or one of the religions? Pretty sure they can't just go changing the results based on what they think..

Castiel · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:13

semi-pro waster said:
I can appreciate why you read the question the way you do so although I disagree with that particular interpretation I can respect your (and Castiel's) position because at least you've thought about it.

If someone has thought about something and come to a different conclusion from me then I can have no issue with that, it's when they clearly don't think about the issue before holding forth an opinion that it irks me somewhat.

Quite, and if everyone had the same opinion on something then we really would have no need for a census in the first place.

semi-pro waster · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:14

MattU said:
Why would they know to move you to none rather than blank or one of the religions? Pretty sure they can't just go changing the results based on what they think..

I believe it just gets discounted, in a way it's rather like the people who spoil their ballot, it gets put with the people who didn't manage to fill it in correctly so while you may be making a political/religious statement unfortunately the people checking don't know that.

Castiel · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:14

MattU said:
Why would they know to move you to none rather than blank or one of the religions? Pretty sure they can't just go changing the results based on what they think..

This has been discussed before, if you write Jedi or Church of Manlove or whatever in the 'other' part, it is simply ignored by the statisticians.

You may as well ignore the question for what difference it makes.

EDIT: damn you Semi-pro, damn you [all] to hell......

Russinating · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:15

MattU said:
Why would they know to move you to none rather than blank or one of the religions? Pretty sure they can't just go changing the results based on what they think..

Because statistics is as much about reading between the lines as reading the actual data provided. And because Jedi isn't a practiced religion and is commonly known to be a 'finger up' to religion in then census than an actual serious answer.

Having a split of 90/10 between None/Jedi says more about the religious view in our country than 100/0.

Greenlizard0 · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:16

AcidHell2 said:
Last census 72% put Christianity down, she has a fair point. They aren't practising Christians and as such shouldn't put it down. These census and stats govern a lot of future planning and opinion.
Although one person said you should only say you are if you go to church, what rubbish. you don;t need to be a church goer to be a christian. In fact i would say you are more of a christian if you don;t go, or maybe go but don't believe that denomination.

Well, that's your definition of it fella..

I have the impression that most (myself included) disagree. In order to claim a person to be religious he'd have to actively partake in it. This includes attending at least fairly regularly.

The whole, you needn't bother attend to be a true Christian is a very well thought out excuse to get funding. Nothing wrong it mind, church buildings and whatnot need to be maintained.