RELIGIOUS VARIATIONS
It would be normal for us to distrust public opinion polls after our repeated experiences with them in the recent elections, but we are now being presented with even more such polls concerning the plight of our religious life here in the United States. They present a dire picture.
I find it difficult to accept the poll reports shown on TV this morning which in someone reporter views which are said to “prove” that average attendance figures at Roman Catholic churches in America are down to critical points which indicate a time in the near future when numerous churches must be closed for financial reasons.
Such dire predictions are not indicated for this area in which the local catholic church appears to be doing well and has just recently added a second service for Hispanic membership.
One such poll reported this morning shows attendance at church by catholic worshipers to be at around 32-percent with a rate which predicts less than one third w
will be in church within the next few years. The loss is attributed to a large extent, to the exceptionally high cost of literation in payment for widespread costs of sex scandals to diocesan treasurers. Boston, where much of cited millions have been expended is is often cited as an example but it is done without any comparative estimates of potential loss to such a debt in other areas.
We need to be more c cautious in our poll-taking ventures and less trusting of those who do such work. It has been common knowledge in industry and commerce that polls general favor those who pay to have them taken. In days of not-too-old when radio stations vied with each other concerning numerical counts of listeners, it became quickly apparent that the station who paid have the survey taken was the winner.
We have come to place special trust in “exit” polls - as one is so designated when taken as the interviewee is departing the voting booth or building. The polls now being quoted were done, it appears, during the recent election period - a time when answers to any question are deemed to be particularly suspect. My maternal grandfather had a pet aversion to being asked for whom he intended to, or had voted for and his exacting suggestion if or when asked such a question is unprintable. in even the media of today. e was not a dedicated c churchgoer and would,n o doubt,have ,b been disturbed at having been asked about his attendance at such services. If anything, such questioning will get apologetic,.exaggerated or untrue responses. If you survey an area in which your interest concerning types of music preferred, you will find that respondents tend to set themselves up a notch on the quality scales in their responses. In the world of music hour ear will show you how musical entities have been fragmented to such an extent that even those who favor one type are at a loss to describe it or limit and not include half a dozen other associated types.. Religious denominations have, in a very real sense, done the same sort of deceptive re-identification and many people today do not understand what it is they are supposed to be believing. To answer definite questions about it all is not easy. The same fallacies occur in answers to questions concerning church “attendance.”
It seems odd, too, that we are being told catholic worshipers are diminishing we are also being told Protestant groups – especially Fundamentalist tangents - are increasing in number. Much is pre-determined by who is taking the poll. Cults, too, are said to show increased membership.
Catholic problems with sex life are not a new thing. It is a problem has never been adequately considered much less qualified. It will prove to be more of a problem in some times ... in some places ... and it is not an exclusive problem with the Catholic Church, but rather with the church catholic.
This , too, shall pass.
A.L.M. November 14, 2004 [c-683wds]
