Majority of Brits believe in ghosts

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by Magical Realist, Oct 17, 2014.

  1. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    "Here's one to ponder on Halloween. A new survey says more people in Britain believe in ghosts than believe in God.

    A poll of more than 2,000 people says 68 percent believe in ghosts and spirits, while 55 percent say they believe in the existence of God.

    Of the ghost believers, 12 percent claim to have seen an apparition. Seventy-six percent say reality television shows and films about the supernatural are part of the reason they're convinced ghosts are real.

    The poll was conducted by retailer Choice UK. It also finds that about 26 percent believe in UFOs and 19 percent believe in reincarnation. But just 4 percent think the Loch Ness monster is more than a myth."===http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9879388/n...oll-gauges-beliefs-supernatural/#.VEFGSvnF-So
     
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  3. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    The percentage of people that say that they believe in the existence of God is a bit high in this survey. I thought it was about 35-40% in the UK.
    Makes me wonder what population group they surveyed.
     
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  5. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    they did a sample size of 2,000 people... for a country with almost 54 million people...
    just for the sake of clarity... lets round that down to an even 50 million people...

    2,000 divided by 50,000,000 = 0.00004

    Which means their sample size was LESS than .004%, or less than 4 thoustandth of a percent...

    I would dare say that isn't a very good sampling on which to make that kind of claim... especially when the religious beliefs can be gathered pretty accurately from census reports...

    Now, if they up that survey size to, say, a million people... we'd be getting better and more accurate results.
     
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  7. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    You need to educate yourself about sampling sizes:

    https://ondeviceresearch.com/blog/sample-size-people-participate-take-survey
     
  8. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Those sample sizes are... incredibly low... I'm not a statistics major but damn...

    I would also like to know the dispersion of these samples (median income, education level, location, et al) but... meh
     
  9. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    "This Halloween may be filled with trick-or-treaters in scary costumes, but for more than one in five Americans, some costumes might be real: they told CBS News pollsters they have seen a real-life ghost in some form. And whether or not they've seen one, even more Americans believe that ghosts actually do exist.

    Nearly half of Americans say they believe in ghosts, or that the dead can return in certain places and situations.

    DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?

    Yes

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    48%
    No

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    45%

    Women are more likely to say they believe in ghosts than are men: 56 percent of women believe, while 38 percent of men do. More than half of younger Americans aged 18 to 45 believe in ghosts; those over 45 are less likely.

    More than one in five Americans says they have seen a ghost themselves, or have felt themselves to be in the presence of one."====http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-majority-believe-in-ghosts/
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2014
  10. zgmc Registered Senior Member

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    I wonder how many believe in vampires, now and before those stupid movies came out.
     
  11. Landau Roof Registered Senior Member

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    Even if 100 % believed in ghosts that would not make ghosts real.
     
  12. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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  13. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    They said the same thing about religion, and look what happened to it. When you become irrelevant, it doesn't much matter whether what you say is true or not. Nobody cares anymore.
     
  14. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    I'm... not sure how you could consider religion irrelevant, especially given its impact on political agenda, policy decisions, foreign relations, et al...
     
  15. river

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    not surprised really

    Charles Dickens mentioned about ghosts in his " Pickwick Papers " ( published in 1836 )
     
  16. Landau Roof Registered Senior Member

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    What happened to religion? Whether you know it or not, it thrives. You don't like it, you don't agree with it, but there it is as strong as ever in its manifold forms. You are irrelevant with your plethora of posts on ghosts, goblins and flying saucers, and you seem to think it doesn't much matter whether what you say is true or not; and here's the kicker: nobody much cares any more what you have to say.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 22, 2016
  17. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    You're the one making assertions about my alleged attitude and allegedly feeling irrelevant. What are you referring to and where did I ever say I felt irrelevant?

    Religion as no relevance in the world I live in. I can go for weeks at work, to coffee shops, movies, and among friends without it ever even coming up. If it's thriving it is only doing so in isolated pockets like ebola is. I avoid places like that.

    You have a massive reading comprehension problem. The statement I made was referring to science not myself. The context would have shown you that if you weren't so desperate to insult me somehow. Suffice it to say that as irrelevant as you claim my posts on ghosts are they remain some of the more active threads in this forum. Guess people care more than you claim eh?
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2014
  18. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    What world are you living in?
     
  19. zgmc Registered Senior Member

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    Science has became irrelevant now? Not sure if I'm following.
     
  20. Landau Roof Registered Senior Member

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    My, you're slow. I don't say you feel irrelevant I say that your posts are irrelevant. Hence to quote your own words.
    Now, who were you saying has a massive reading comprehension problem? It's pretty sad that every time you criticize, you could be talking about yourself. I think that you are - subconsciously- You just go on posting shite threads because you are a troll who wants to test the forums limits. You don't believe half of what you post yourself! You're just egging us on.

    I have only 60 posts and you have nearly 5,000

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    , but I notice most of yours are about scientific nonsense and your defense of indefensible crap. My posts are perhaps unhelpful (harmless) commentary on science, philosophy or politics, but I never yet have gotten my knickers in a twist because I can't get a member who is educated in the sciences to admit that UFOs and/or ghosts are real. I see that while we have our wags and trolls and 'alternative theorists' here, you are the only one persistently insisting that we believe nonsense. Is it any wonder you have been banned so many times?

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    Maybe you don't live in a country that has Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you do, I guess you'll be spending the next two months with your head in the sand. If you don't, be sure to use your news filters to block out any stories on The War on Terror, ISIS or the latest from the Vatican on gay unions. I wouldn't want you to catch anything. As two other subsequent posters have pointed out - we live in a world rife with religious feeling. Okay, 'thriving' was not the best word to use, but religious feeling and its effects run rampant wherever you live. I gather you are an atheist or agnostic. That's you're right, but how amusing that a person who refuses to believe in God is so hot for ET and Casper and Sasquatch. So when you and your buds are out not talking about religion, what do you talk about instead? Living dead big foot creatures from space? I know you're not one for self-reflection, but can you not see that all this crapola you insist upon is compensation for religious feeling?

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    "Suffice" nothin'! You mistake thread activity for popularity. I suppose you would since the only reason you seem to keep coming back after your multiple bans is because you crave attention. It's not that people 'care' about your chosen nonsensical subject. They are just aghast that you just won't give it up. You are impenetrably close-minded in that you insist this stuff is true. You are so self-absorbed that you cannot see that we are laughing at you, not with you (if you mean for your flaming interest in Enquirer/Daily Mirror garbage to be ironically humorous). In short, I just cannot understand why you waste our time(or your own) with this nonsense. Yes. Go to your supper club with your friends, drink pink champagne and eat tapas and block out the real world around you and discuss life after death experiences (without any reference to heaven or hell, of course), but don't dirty up our science forum with para-pseudo-bullshit that has no place on a Science forum. Please and thank you.
     
  21. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    And yet here's exactly what you said earlier: "So you feel irrelevant, do you?"

    I didn't have the patience to read thru your long-winded and self-serving little diatribe of insults and self-righteous claims. What little I picked out while scanning over it HAS forced me to report you for insulting and flaming. You ARE familiar with those forum rules aren't you? Word of advice: don't pretend you know anything about complete strangers. It just makes a fool out of you and exposes your own own insecure need to project on others. Oh, and stand by for more really annoying evidence of ghosts, ufos, and all the little things that go bump in your night..
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2014
  22. Landau Roof Registered Senior Member

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    Point proven! All of 'em.
     
  23. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    To be frank, I'm still waiting on the first batch of good evidence... so... yeah...
     

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