Americans Fascinated With Spirits?

[Katana]

What irritates me is how misleading this article was at least for me. I was about to start a thread about how I was surprised that so many people out there believe in the ability to communicate with the dead or felt the presence of a spirit.

I thought that the whole thing was about the results of a Baylor University Study. Nope. It included the results of a Beliefnet survey. Beliefnet is a spirituality and faith website. Not exactly a random sampling.

Baylor University Study

...Americans have always seemed fascinated by the idea of communicating with spirits in another world. According to a recent study by the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, 20 percent of Americans believe that the living can communicate with the dead. In an online survey of 10,000 Beliefnet members, 77 percent said they'd felt the presence of a spirit, angel or dead soul.

The article starts by asserting that Americans have always had a fascination with communicating with spirits, but goes on to cite, as evidence of this, the Beliefnet survey. Only once do they mention numbers from the Baylor survey, and that is in the first paragraph which states that only 20% of Americans surveyed believe that the living can communicate with the dead (bolded). The rest of the numbers are from the Beliefnet population.

Nice.

Both the survey results and the TV statistics indicate that women are more likely to believe it's possible to interact with the spirit world. Forty-six percent of women surveyed believed that "the souls of the dead protect the living as spirit guides," compared with 27 percent of men. Women were also more likely than men to believe that "the dead can hear our prayers or intercede with God on our behalf."

They refer to both surveys here (bolded), but they don't identify which one the percentages comes from. I think we can guess.

This was an amusing paragraph, though:

{snip}

All this interest in communicating with the dead comes despite the fact that Jews and Christians have prohibitions against it. The Bible says, "There shall not be found among you any one that consulteth a ghost or familiar spirit, or a necromancer" (Deut. 18:10). One respondent captured a common Christian view when he said the appearance of a loved one is "the Devil in disguise." These spirits are "simply a way to try to move us away from our close relationship with God."

The article concluded with:

Deborah Blum, professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin, suggests that science might do better to try to explain paranormal activity rather than dismiss it. "We should never be so arrogant as to assume that one group knows everything," she cautions. "I don't think this interest [in talking to the dead] is ever going away."

Well, if a professor of science journalism says that science isn't doing enough to explain the paranormal because of all of this public interest in it (as demonstrated by a Beliefnet survey), then, by gosh, let's get to work, folks!

 

[Darth Rotor]

Americans Fascinated With Spirits

Bourbon, vodka, tequila.

Yep.

DR

 

[marksman]

I'm fascinated with spirits:

The spirit of 1776

The Spirit of St. Louis

This guy.

The Spirit of Adventure...​

 

[webfusion]

see: HEROES

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/about/

"an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities."

Over 12-million people watched the first episode.

 

[Darth Rotor]

see: HEROES

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/about/

"an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities."

Over 12-million people watched the first episode.

Superman, Legion of Super Heroes, comic book fans. The Superhero is an embedded part of our series of modern national stories and myths. Nietzsche would be so very proud, I think.

DR

 

[TragicMonkey]

[qimg]http://www.gordonartstudio.com/Spirit%20of%20Adventure.jpg[/qimg]
The Spirit of Adventure...

Yes, who can forget those brave gay mice and their global circumnavigation by hot air balloon?

Too bad Mr Peekey fell out over that volcano. Ouch.

 

[Katana]

I'm glad that you're all amused.

You know? I think it's time to go home and enjoy some nice spirits.

 

[shemp]

Bourbon, vodka, tequila.

Yep.

DR

Wimp. Everclear.