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Survey Sez!
Lewis
Goldberg
07/14/2003
We
have become overly dependent on the results of surveys to determine what
our position ought to be on moral issues - the conservative stance ending
up being something akin to figuring out how depraved everyone else is and
adopting an attitude just slightly less liberal than the crowd. The latest
snapshot of the decayed state of the Church, titled Protestant
Ministers Differ Over Homosexuality, has been conducted and
published by Ellison
Research of Phoenix, AZ. Just who commissioned this study and why
remains a mystery [assuming that Ellison Research doesn't make any money
conducting scientific surveys for free.]
Putting
the core issue aside for a second, let's examine this whole idea of surveys
being used by ministries and other 'Christian' organizations. Paul and
Silas relied on prayer and the Holy Spirit to guide them in their
evangelism. Today's churchmen, utilizing firms like Ellison, put science
ahead of prayer. This from the Ellison site:
Marketing
research is a powerful tool in branding, donor communications, marketing
strategy, promotion, product design, and image for Christian
organizations. As well-known Christian television producer Phil Cooke said
in Religious Broadcasting magazine, "Research is another area
that we don't explore nearly enough. The secular networks and Madison
Avenue spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on research to find
out who their audience is and how to more effectively reach them. We need
to understand that good research doesn't hinder creativity or anointing -
it simply gives us the tools we need to learn how to focus that creativity
and anointing where it will do the most good."
Focusing...[the]
anointing. The Lord shall be happy to hear that He's got help at last.
[cough...snort.]
Let
us recompose ourselves and get back to the survey in particular. That it
has to be conducted in the first place speaks to the deplorable condition
of the church - mainline denominations in particular. The ten-question
survey could have been nine questions lighter, simply stating the
agree/disagree proposition "Homosexual activity is a sin," and
stripping the 22% of clergy that disagreed with it of their flocks. The
answer to the rest of the questions should naturally flow from this one -
the wide variance in the percentages from one question to another proving
that perhaps another 20-50% of the ministers answering the survey should be
defrocked for their sheer stupidity.
Could
this survey on the clergy's attitudes toward sodomites have been conducted
100 or even 50 years ago, the surveyors would have returned to their office
empty of responses - not because there was a shortage of opinions on the
issues, but because even those who favored sodomite acceptance across the
board would have been too embarrassed to state the feeling out loud,
recognizing their opinions, though heartfelt, to be ludicrous in the light
of day.
Today's
heathen clergy have no such shame, and heaven help the ignorant masses that
follow after them, ignoring God's sure Word.
Your comments and questions are encouraged. [editor@patriotist.com]
Patriotist
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