At 06:54 AM 1/31/00 -0700, you wrote:
>I mean the figures are generally true at least as far as the American
>population. Don't know about Libertarians but it sounds right.
>
>On Mon, 31 Jan 2000, CAB wrote:
>
>> The figures which Larry quotes are generally true. Check the almanac (one
>> of the most amazing little books there is: has everything from geography
>> to current events, to crop yields and to welfare divisions to crime
>> statistics).
>> Crystal
>>
Crystal, one of the problems with some sorts of social science is that they depend on uncontrolled methods like "polling". What polling tells you is how people say they behave rather than how they behave. It is impolite in the U.S. to say that you are an atheist, and being polite is very important in the U.S. these days.
In fact, most people in the U.S. do not behave as if they are religious. They have no religious affiliation, they do not attend religious services, they do not study their particular religious writ, and if asked to recite the tenets of their purported religious affiliation and how these differ from competitors they wouldn't have a clue. The various Christian churches and Jewish congregations have been suffering from this phenomenon for decades and now have substantially less members than 50 years ago, although the population has increased substantially over that same period [take a look at those survey results].
CJB