Hi Y'all, David Epstein wrote: > If you broaden your search to the remainder of the Tanakh, you can > find this: > > http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Bible/Daniel12.html
PSYCH-FREE (a more psych-related discussion below): Of course, I was responding to what was written about the Torah and not the Neviim or Ketuvim (Daniel is one of these). And in discussing the Tanakh in general, we could extend this discussion further with the various possible interpretations of the texts based on evaluation of the Hebrew (the vowels are omitted in Hebrew leading some very different readings of the text). If one includes all of Jewish writings beyond the Torah, one will find almost every opinion represented from simply dead to afterlife to reincarnation to . . . However, when discussing Judaism grounded principally in the Torah, one does not find notions related to an afterlife and it is certainly not a mainstream belief. As Dr. Black pointed out, Judaism focuses principally on one's current life and existence. However this is not a Judaism discussion list. To bring it back to the original point of my first post: When conducting research and making statements about research, individuals need to use care to be explicit about their hypotheses, carefully define their terms, and be specific about their operational definitions. To use the term religion and make broad sweeping statements without specificity runs counter to science. /./ > > > > % of world population > > > (1) (2) (3) > > > > > > Christians 33.7 33 33 > > > Muslims 19.2 22 20 > > > Nonreligious 14 14 19 (inc atheists) > > > Hindus 13.7 15 13 > > > Buddhists 5.7 6 6 > > > Jews 0.2 <1% <1% > > > > Of course, how are these statitics generated? What is the sampling > > technique? How are the questions phrased? etc. As there may be > > political reasons (fear of imprisonment or death if a particular or any > > religion is named) or economic reasons (much needed funds for survival > > gained if particular religion named), these statistics are often highly > > inaccurate. > > How wide a margin of error are you suggesting? This is certainly a problem in and of itself and why we should be careful when presenting statistics as facts. The margin of error is unknown. If we simply look at China with its extensive population and its governmental repression of religious beliefs, we can see the difficulty in sampling. Also, within what are described as the major religions as listed in the above polls sited, there is also diversity. So the phrasing of the questions may cause problems with how individuals answer the questions. If we look at other countries in Asia (such as Indonesia) or in Africa, we will find some very interesting blends of religion. Thus, in East Timor for example, the predominate religion is a blend of various animistic belief systems and Catholicism. However, Catholicism is recognized as an official organization and thus able to distribute relief, education, etc. Thus, I'm sure how one answers the question of religion depends on who and the circumstances of being asked. Statistics range from 50 to 75 (http://www.dep.org.uk/globalexpress/editions/et.html ) to 90 (http://www.timoraid.org/timortoday/html/about_east_timor.htm ) percent of the population being defined as Catholic. And there may be other sources of data that further extend those ranges. These definitional difficulties exist for many countries with a variety of hybrid religions resulting principally from colonization. Certainly, I don't think anyone would argue that statistics should be taken at face value without an analysis of the underlying methodology and various validity concerns. Additionally, I don't think anyone on this list would argue with the idea that we should carefully define hypotheses and variables when conducting or evaluating research. Why should we toss out this value of critical thinking when discussing research or statistics concerning religion? Linda Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Book Review Editor, H-Genocide Associate Professor - Psychology Coordinator - Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO 63119 Main Webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
