kowhoho said:
pizzahut451 said:
kowhoho said:
pizzahut451 said:
Statistics are constantly being used for the betterment of mankind and are a huge component of all the developements which make your life easier. For you to say that they are 'stupid' or 'biased' is quite frankly an insult to what humanity has accomplished for itself.Bias is always present as human error cannot be entirely removed from a human study, but there are methods that statistics use (such as random sampling or double-blind studies) which bring the potential for bias down to an acceptable level. A good statistcical study ensures that its results have less than a 5% chance of happening by chance, and those studies are often repeated many times regardless, so there is a complete certainty of their results.
You also seem to be overlooking the point I'm trying to make. I never said that atheism CAUSES wealth, low crime rates or anything of the sort. Neither did he. I can most definitely say that an atheist is less likely to commit crime or be poor because of the negative correlation between the two. This prediction is only based on the correlation between the variables. This is not a generalization and in no way does it imply that NO atheist would commit crime.
Let's use a different example.
Consider a study where students' GPA and the hours they watch TV are compared. Let's say that the study finds a strong negative correlation between Hours of TV Watching and GPA (more hours of tv = lower GPA). From this data, assuming it was taken with a randomly collected sample of students and biases were minimized, I can predict that a student who watches a lot of TV will have a low GPA. Yes? However this does not mean that watching TV CAUSES bad grades. There could be a third unknown variable which is causing both the high amount of TV watching AND the low GPA, such as inherent laziness.
Now let's move on to your use of the term, "real christian." Can you actually define to me right now what a real christian is? I seriously doubt it. I find it funny that you call my arguments shallow and them use terms with no operational definition. There are a thousand sects of christianity that don't agree with one another. Are you so vain as to say that your church has a monopoly on morality? Your statements are uninformed, narrow-minded and arrogant. |
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I never insulted ALL statistics ever made. I just said that that one statistic sucked. I have absolutely nothing agaisnt the statistics as long as they are good, accurate and unbiased.
And i understood what you wanted to say. But you still cant say that an atheist is less likely to comitt a crime either. An individual atheist is less likley to comitt a crime? Probably. Atheists as a group of people are less likely to comitt crime and are more richer than other people? HELL NO! Thats why that argument is dumb IMO. To say that atheists are less likely to comitt a crime than christians or muslims or jews is wrong.
And let me put that really simple for you: A good christian is a good person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ. A person who steales, rapes, kills, aussaults people is NOT a real chrisitan, regardless if he believes in Jesus or not. Thats the way God sees things, and thats the way i see them too.
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You have no basis for the underlined. It isn't "wrong" to use statistics to predict the character of a person. Please explain to me how these statistics are anything but "good, accurate and unbiased." Without any reasoning behind that comment it sounds like you're just trying to find details that will support your argument and ignore anything that doesn't.
"Good" is also a subjective term. My "good" is likely to be very different from your "good." It is not an objective term to be used for definition.
And how do you know how God sees things? It's wonderful that you think that you share a kind of "holy vision" with him/her/it, but where do you get this statement from? Please don't use the word bible in your answer. >_>
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Neither do you. The statistic wasnt done on all atheist people in this world, so saying that atheists as a whole group of people are less likely to comitt a crime than christians or jews and muslims IS WRONG. There are atheists out there that are less likely to comit a crime, sure, but to say ALL of them are is pretty stupid, and i dont think i need to explain why.
Good person is not a subjective term. A good deed is not a subjective term as well. Whats your view on a good person? Is it the person who rapes, kills and steals?
I know it because Jesus said once (or it was one of his followers) that you DONT have to believe in him but rather believe in his techings. Jesus is son of God so i believe thats how God sees things too. Not to mention that is the only RIGHT way to see things as well.
