Are you a Catholic or a Protestant? An experiment.

Lister_Petter

Hi,

This is an interesting experiment I've come up with.
I was hoping to determine the ratio of Catholics to Protestants of boardsies via this poll.
Then I wanted to see whether I could acheive a similar ratio myself by reviewing peoples post history and then judging them C or P based on their post style, opinions and values.
I think this will be an interesting experiment. Any takers?

JimiTime

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Hi,

This is an interesting experiment I've come up with.
I was hoping to determine the ratio of Catholics to Protestants of boardsies via this poll.
Then I wanted to see whether I could acheive a similar ratio myself by reviewing peoples post history and then judging them C or P based on their post style, opinions and values.
I think this will be an interesting experiment. Any takers?

You'll probably have to define Protestant, and actually Catholic for that matter. By Catholic, do you mean Roman Catholic? A lot of people also think any Christian that is not Roman Catholic is Protestant. So you'll probably need to be a bit more concise:)

Lister_Petter

Well, i suppose for the purposes of this I will say the divisions will be the traditional groups in Ireland. I.e. catholic = Roman Catholic and Protestant = Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist (That should cover most groups). baptists and such have not been historically a significant group in Ireland.

JimiTime

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Well, i suppose for the purposes of this I will say the divisions will be the traditional groups in Ireland. I.e. catholic = Roman Catholic and Protestant = Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist (That should cover most groups). baptists and such have not been historically a significant group in Ireland.

Cool, I'd say put that definition in your OP, and you'll have more bites, though I don't think there are many here that go under your protestant definition. Best of luck with your experiment.

two wheels good

You want to test your ability to detect the religious persuasion of strangers. What on earth makes you think this is a useful experiment? Is this your hobby in social situations too?

Manach

An un-Orthodox poll.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

PDN

Neither. So I can't tick either option.

Doc Farrell

I sense a disturbance in the force.
I recommend getting 50 thanks from regular posters before asking potentially devisive questions.
Having said that i may be wrong but for the moment won't be gerting involved.
Why dont you call out your theory to the forum and plot out your ideas instead and see who bites?

PDN

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Well, i suppose for the purposes of this I will say the divisions will be the traditional groups in Ireland. I.e. catholic = Roman Catholic and Protestant = Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist (That should cover most groups). baptists and such have not been historically a significant group in Ireland.

It might be worth pointing out that the third biggest denomination in the State, larger than either Methodists or Presbyterians, is the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Nigerian Pentecostal Group. I would also estimate that, in the Republic, there are more members of the Romanian Pentecostal Union than there are of the Methodist Church.

Onesimus

I dont know how you are going to stalk us op. You didnt even put the Poll visiible as to who voted

Seriously! I've seen more interesting threads locked by now.

Marcusm

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Well, i suppose for the purposes of this I will say the divisions will be the traditional groups in Ireland. I.e. catholic = Roman Catholic and Protestant = Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist (That should cover most groups). baptists and such have not been historically a significant group in Ireland.

I think you might be better starting from the beginning so as to be clear and not to unnecessarily offend people. The churches of the Anglican communion (including the Churches of Ireland and England and the Episcopal Church in the US) would absolutely regard themselves as Catholic churches. The Eastern churches conversely would deny absolutely that the Roman Catholic Church is a Catholic church. (Note the capitalisations, these are deliberate and important.) Presbyterians on the other hand would not regard themselves as members of a Catholic church.

yutta

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Hi,

This is an interesting experiment I've come up with.
I was hoping to determine the ratio of Catholics to Protestants of boardsies via this poll.
Then I wanted to see whether I could acheive a similar ratio myself by reviewing peoples post history and then judging them C or P based on their post style, opinions and values.
I think this will be an interesting experiment. Any takers?

There was a competition a few years ago where all the boards.ie data from 1998 to 2008 was made accessible in a database. You could try and ask one of the community mods to allow you access that dataset?

tuxy

PDN wrote: »

Neither. So I can't tick either option.

Same so I just picked one at random. The poll is not going to work with out a neutral option.

PDN

tuxy wrote: »

Same so I just picked one at random. The poll is not going to work with out a neutral option.

Atari Jaguar!

im invisible

just from my very odd reading/ posting in here, i'd say the majority are neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant, in the "traditional irish" sense, but people who have come to the faith through a variety of different avenues, and decided what was right for themselves,
(please point out if i'm off the mark on this)

oh, and: traditional a la carte catholic here

Doc Farrell

No! The Catholics are tipping the boat over! I feel I should vote Protestant just to balance it up again. Also the two dozen atheists who post here won't be happy there's no seat in the lifeboat for them! Technically my views would have made me very flammable in the recent past.

Cavehill Red

A lot of Anglicans would consider themselves Catholic, just not Roman Catholic. Then there's the 'third way' Anglicans who see themselves inhabiting a space equidistant from Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Only rather low church Anglicans would unproblematically accept being called Protestant.

Benny_Cake

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Well, i suppose for the purposes of this I will say the divisions will be the traditional groups in Ireland. I.e. catholic = Roman Catholic and Protestant = Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist (That should cover most groups). baptists and such have not been historically a significant group in Ireland.

Not historically,but there would be significant numbers of Pentacostalists, Baptists, and other / non-denominational Christians in Ireland now.Also,no option for Orthodox?

parrai

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Hi,

This is an interesting experiment I've come up with.
I was hoping to determine the ratio of Catholics to Protestants of boardsies via this poll.
Then I wanted to see whether I could acheive a similar ratio myself by reviewing peoples post history and then judging them C or P based on their post style, opinions and values.
I think this will be an interesting experiment. Any takers?

I think you have chosen the wrong poll parameters for what you are looking for... The age of posters would give you a far better idea as regards the information you are looking for, imo

Lister_Petter

To clear up some things;

1) The poll is to determine the ratio of Roman Catholics to Protestants only.
Orthodox, muslim, buddist ,jews, athiests etc. are neither so they don't come into it at all. It is the specific C/P ratio only it ignores other religions.

2)Catholics = Roman Catholics
Protestant = (Methodist, Ch. of Ire., Ch of Eng., Presbyterian, Calvinists, Lutheran, Puritanism etc)
Basically by elimination, Protestants will be those who are neither Roman Catholic nor Orthodox. -

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism) within Christianity

-wiki

3) I won't be "stalking" anyone as someone said. I do not and do not want to know who voted. I will take a random sample of posters.

4) I thought the results were public, I can see the results bar even when I'm not signed in. Maybe a mod can check the settings are OK.

5) I think the experiment is of merit because it seeks to determine whether or not peoples language, values and attitudes are influenced by their religion.

6) Perhaps my use of the word "judge" was misplaced and may have been interpreted wrong. I intend to assess whether the language, values and attitudes correlate with the religions.


I hope this clears up some of the confusion

homer911

I dont like labels, apart from "Christian"

I happen to worship in a Presbyterian Church, at the moment

Its funny that I dont recognise the majority of names that have posted to this thread

lmaopml

Lister Petter, are you going to review posting history...and then comment afterwards? Or is this a personal survey?

Hmm...I don't geddit!

philologos

I would define myself as Christian first and foremost. On a more specific level I'm an evangelical Christian but I question whether or not I should label myself as such as Christianity is inherently evangelical on a Biblical level.

Fanny Cradock

I can't vote in this poll because I'm a Christian who doesn't self-identify as either Catholic or Protestant.

PatricaMcKay2

philologos wrote: »

I would define myself as Christian first and foremost. On a more specific level I'm an evangelical Christian but I question whether or not I should label myself as such as Christianity is inherently evangelical on a Biblical level.

But what exactly do you mean by Evangelical?

Im not asking this to be cheeky its just a phrase whos modern meaning I find hard to pin down.

LordSutch

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I can't vote in this poll because I'm a Christian who doesn't self-identify as either Catholic or Protestant.

Well said Fanny, you are ahead of the game here, but this being Ireland means that (currently) we all get pigenholed into one side or the other ) and according to the latest stats I think its something like 98% Roman Catholic Vs 2% Protestant (approximately) here in the Republic.

And just for the record, most Protestants are catholic, who believe in one holy catholic & Apostolic Church.

More Info on this here > http://www.ireland.anglican.org/information/6

philologos

PatricaMcKay2 wrote: »

But what exactly do you mean by Evangelical?

Im not asking this to be cheeky its just a phrase whos modern meaning I find hard to pin down.

It means on the basis of the good news that I am committed to sharing it with all of those around me. It means that I base my faith on the teachings of Jesus in the Biblical text.

Wikipedia does a good job in listing the main points:

• The need for personal conversion (or being "born again");
• A high regard for biblical authority;
• An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ;
• Actively expressing and sharing the gospel

CrossReach

I'm Catholic, but in the ancient sense. I am not Roman Catholic, rather Eastern Orthodox. But choosing i would have to say Catholic. Although last year I would have definitely have chosen Protestant. My own study has brought me to the conclusion that there are really only two types of Christians it seems. Catholic type Christians and Protestant type Christians. Catholic types see the Church as their final authority, Protestant types see the Bible (usually the NT but sometimes the OT to or even exclusively) as their final authority. Even the cults it seems fit into one these boxes. Jehovah's Witnesses seem to be more Protestant, and Mormons seem to be more Catholic, though this is not a perfect system, as J.W.'s do have to pay ultimate homage to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and cannot come up with their own interpretations as true Bible Christians can and do (38,000 denominations should prove that). Mormons look, not to the Bible, but to their President, their prophet as the final authority in matters of faith and doctrine. Kind of like a pope.

Lab_Mouse

Lister_Petter wrote: »

Hi,

This is an interesting experiment I've come up with.
I was hoping to determine the ratio of Catholics to Protestants of boardsies via this poll.
Then I wanted to see whether I could acheive a similar ratio myself by reviewing peoples post history and then judging them C or P based on their post style, opinions and values.
I think this will be an interesting experiment. Any takers?

Lister you've only got 31 posts on boards so i'll put you wide.Its a tradition to include a 3rd option called atari jaguar:pac:

Spacedog

I voted prod to distort the results of the poll.

Propellerhead

I'm a Catholic in the Church of England, so that will 1) not fit neatly into thie box and 2) make most Irish religious minded peoples' heads explode.

Result!