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The Experiment on 100 Professed Atheists

bokonon said:
Hey, that reminds me of an experiment that I heard about with a pendulum swinger who was picking lotto numbers. She said that she'd post predictions and results once a week, so all the skeptics could see how amazing and accurate it was. 80% of the time, she failed to do so. Does anybody know anything about this experiment?
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Ha!
 
A quick google suggests this is basically an urban myth, spread around christian communities by word of mouth (and the internet). Every mention of it I found was someone saying that their friend told them, or their preacher said... etc. Nothing like an original source seemed to come up.
 
Professor Yaffle said:
I take it ou haven't read any of MayDay's other threads...?
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I guess I haven't read enough, no.

I'm still curious about whether this study existed or not. From the evidence, it seems like there's good reason to be skeptical. Regardless of Mayday's agenda, I am still curious, and her original question was innocent enough.

I know people like to nip things in the bud around here, but is throwing the first punch in every thread really a good way to handle things?

Professor Yaffle said:
A quick google suggests this is basically an urban myth, spread around christian communities by word of mouth (and the internet). Every mention of it I found was someone saying that their friend told them, or their preacher said... etc. Nothing like an original source seemed to come up.
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Well, color me surprised. ;)
 
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The best experiment would be to hook Mayday up to a polygraph.. I expect some very interesting results.
 
http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/ap...s/AP0702W4.htm

Quote:
...according to Senior Pastor Jess Moody of the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys, California, "Lie detector tests were administered to more than 25,000 people. One of the questions was, ‘Do you believe in God?’ In every case, when a person answered no, the lie detector said he was lying."
The reference in the footnotes admits that the study could not be confirmed.
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Even if this was a real story. How many closet Atheists do you think can answer that question without having some emotional response (an emotional response that might read on a polygraph machine as "lying"). If someone was in front of me, and had me hooked up to a bunch of sensors and was asking me random questions and one of the questions to my surprise was "Do you believe in god?" I would probably be at least somewhat uncomfortable answering it considering such a high percentage of people in this country disagree with me.

I however am skeptical such a study was ever done.
 
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mayday said:
I don't know where she heard this, but I would guess some cheesy sermon from some dorky pastor who made it up to awe people.

I think it's so humorous to watch people get their undies in a wad, though. You all start rolling around like the snake I pepper sprayed that got in my laundry room.
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So, you say something stupid, you get called out on it, and then you pretend that WE screwed up somehow? Jeez, we've never seen a troll like you before! :rolleyes:
 
mayday said:
I don't know where she heard this, but I would guess some cheesy sermon from some dorky pastor who made it up to awe people.

I think it's so humorous to watch people get their undies in a wad, though. You all start rolling around like the snake I pepper sprayed that got in my laundry room.
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The part of the thread that I find most fascinating is that you believe posts 2 through 11 were examples of people getting their undies in a wad.

- - - - - -

The second most interesting thing is that you admit to having posted something that you do not believe is true in order to take pleasure from the emotional reactions of the forum members. Isn't that the precise dictionary definition of an internet troll?
 
Pythra said:
Ignoring any agenda mayday may have had in posting this, I found this article that alludes to some such study:

http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0702W4.htm

Near the end of the article:

The reference in the footnotes admits that the study could not be confirmed.
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Hmmm, I found this link which says the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys has now morphed into the "Shepherd of the Hills Church." I know where this one is. Maybe I'll drop by, and see if Pastor Moody can provide any further details. I don't trust lie detectors in general, but I'll bet it wouldn't register any distress for me answering that I didn't believe in God.

ETA: I just called the church, and their "office hours" are Monday thru Friday, 9-5. I tried their automated staff directory ("Spell out the first three letters of the last name" -- hmmm, "Moody" is '666'...), and it says there's nobody there by that name. The link I posted said he was considering retirement back in the 90s, so he's probably not there now. I'll try them again on Monday, and see if he's still alive. Maybe I can reach him by phone, even if he's no longer leading the church.
 
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Aepervius said:
From the tone of your post, I gather you did not like the serving of the same food you gave us, given to you back.

You see, we don't squirm. Because we know a few things more than you do (hint : it has to do with a non existent study, and the fact that polygraph don't really measure what you think they do). We are a bit like adult which tries to bring you on the correct way to handle logic, science, and evidence. From all the thread you started in the same genre, I would gather we failed utterly to teach you anything. If I had to qualify the type of evidence and story you bring us, I would use this "why soar with the eagle when you can wallow with the piggy tale ?".
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If you knew what I knew about a few of the people who posted here you would know why I said that. In fact, what I said was directed at TWO people in particular.

I can dish it out and I can take it. Don't flatter yourself.
 
mayday said:
I think it's so humorous to watch people get their undies in a wad, though. You all start rolling around like the snake I pepper sprayed that got in my laundry room.
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Spray that pepper sweetheart!

It might just wake these poor sods up.:)
 
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