Quiz

Favorite quotations, etc.
DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Quiz

Post by DutchGirl »

I was baptized into the great big Roman Catholic Mother Church when I was 0. There was little I could do about that. I wrote a letter to count me out when I was 25. But I'm still not sure whether they are counting me when they say the Netherlands has 4 million roman catholics.

When asked, 2.4 million people in the Netherlands consider themselves roman catholic according to this article, but 2 million of them go to church less often than once per month (sorry, Dutch: http://www.hetgoedeleven.com/Samenlevin ... fault.aspx )

While my brother and my sister both married in the church (yes, in separate ceremonies and with different non-related people), I'm glad my nieces and nephew weren't baptized. If they ever want to become a catholic when they're grown, they can be so. But I'm glad they're not feeding the numbers of the RC right now, when they have had no say over it.

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jennypenny
Posts: 6851
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Quiz

Post by jennypenny »

jacob wrote:@jp - When comparing numbers, always consider whether those are relative numbers or absolute numbers. For example, the world population increases faster than 2%, so if Catholicism is gaining less than that, it's losing the relative game.
Yes, I understand how statistics work. :P

Why is the relative game all that matters? Even if 20% are like Dutchgirl and shouldn't be counted, that still leaves a billion Catholics. It's a staggering number if you take into account the stats provided on the population thread that show many countries with large Catholic populations have lower growth rates.

Another way to see the trend is to look at demographics. Do younger people believe more or less than older people? Be very careful about classifying though. There's a big difference between practicing and non-practicing, e.g. people might check the box for X when describing their religion but if they actually aren't practicing it, what are they really?
So how are we classifying? They go to Mass once a week? once a month? C & E people? I'm not sure why just indicating they are 'Catholic' isn't enough? It's hard to define "practicing" in a objective way.

Look at it in terms of the people who read the forum. Some post infrequently. Many never post. Does that mean you wouldn't count them among the ERE faithful? Maybe it's better to judge by lifestyle. How much do they need to save every month to be counted? 30%? 50%? 70%? What if they don't post and struggle to save more than 30%, but still aim to live as close to an ERE lifestyle as they are able? They agree with what you say, follow your teachings, and hope to live by at least some of them. Would you still count them?

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C40
Posts: 2748
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Re: Quiz

Post by C40 »

The strange thing here is that being Religious is measured by going to church. If you were checking how many people are cyclists, you wouldn't ask much about which cycling club they are a member of and how often they go to the club meetings.

jacob
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Re: Quiz

Post by jacob »

My point is that debaters tend to classify according to which point they're trying to make. The exact same data can often be used to make two seemingly contradictory points.

workathome
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Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:06 pm

Re: Quiz

Post by workathome »

I think its more a desire to measure the number of Catholics, who preach as a central tenant that it's important to go to Church, not all religious.

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