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To: Quix
Quix
I don't know of any solid research on actual percentages of the above. However, in my 45 years of studying the topic while participating in such circles, I suspect my guesses are as good as anyone's.
Sorry didn't see this one before replying above -- I'm sorry, this cannot be true -- you cannot guess what other people think. You may have the % based on people you know, but there are lots of people you don't know and more specifically, since you believe in aliens etc, it is more likely that you will associate more with people who share the same viewpoint -- whatever be their religious background. Keeping that in mind, you cannot guess a % of who believes in what without a poll

I talk about religiousity in the sense that if you ran a poll of the above amongst various peoples of different religious background, the numbers would not depend on a person's religion --> there is no more likelihood that a FourSquare person will believe in Aliens just because you do and no more likelihood than a Unitarian Universalist or OPC member.
965 posted on 10/18/2010 7:27:03 AM PDT by Cronos (Ojciec i Syn i Duch Swiety)
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To: Cronos; Amityschild; Brad's Gramma; Captain Beyond; Cvengr; DvdMom; firebrand; GiovannaNicoletta; ..
Cronos:
and more specifically, since you believe in aliens etc, it is more likely that you will associate more with people who share the same viewpoint --

LOL.

Are you REALLY that unaware of how difficult it is to find more than one person in the same county who holds similar beliefs about much of anything???

Actually, it really is not that true that I am much more around folks who agree with me about UFO'S ETC. My Christian circles fairly wholesale avoids the topic--even those who are aware and agree with me.

And, certainly in my travels and life across 3 continents, I have come routinely across far greater numbers of average persons of various religiosities.

Right this moment--apart from the UFO ping list on FR and the folks I've met at conferences, I'd be hard pressed to count on more than one hand the folks who agree with me to any significant degree. It would be hard to think of more than 8 or 10 people who are significantly informed outside of the groups I've mentioned above. And I'm speaking of more than 1000 people I know across 3 continents.

So, those assumptions, as logical as they may seem, are actually quite flawed.

On top of all that, is my sociologist and psychologist's trainings. I'm not that bad at guessing about group beliefs and behaviors. That became clear when I was doing my dissertation research involved with various religiosities--including, BTW, RC's both Charismatic and not.I don't recall any of my prelimminary percentage guesses being even one standard deviation off--certainly not more than one.

In this particular case, things have been changing so rapidly the last few years . . . even in the Christian publishing realm on the topic--my guesses may be off. I doubt they'd be off by more than 25%. Probably not more than 15% though it wouldn't greatly surprise me if they were.

One of the reasons is that wherever I am with whatever sort of group or individuals, if there's a way to segue into asking about their perspectives on such things, I query people a LOT. That still doesn't amount to every time I am out and about but it is a LOT over a few month's time--certainly compared to how much other people talk about it normally on average.

And, I have taught 2 classes per semester for most of 7+ years of 20-30 students each class and I query them about a wide variety of things. They are a clear cross section of the general population in most respects.

968 posted on 10/18/2010 7:44:12 AM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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