Results of Australian Democrats Survey on Religion and Politics

The Australian Democrat Party online survey on religion and politics has been completed, with 40,000 returns. However it’s unlikely the results will ever be published.

The survey site has the following message:

Thank you to all of those who have completed our online survey and shared their views with us. The response has been very interesting and has informed our thoughts on this complex topic. We hope that it has encouraged people to think about the issues and we look forward to more discussion.

We do not plan to publish results of this survey. Online surveys are useful because they are fast, easy and inexpensive but they do not typically gather in-depth, rigorous scientifically valid information. Indeed some complained that ‘yes’/’no’ answers were inadequate for the complex questions raised.

Furthermore, respondees were self-selected rather than chosen at random. This means the survey, despite its 40,000 returns, is unlikely to be representative of the broad population. Indeed we understand it was widely promoted in ways likely to have skewed the results – in itself an interesting development in debate about the influence of the churches over matters of state!

I can understand the reluctance of the survey organisers to go any further. As they imply, the survey was well publicised on Christian blogs and email lists. On top of that, the questions were loaded and in some cases contained inaccuracies.

It’s interesting to note the Queensland Government’s promise to invest three million dollars over three years towards chaplains providing support for young people in state schools. Schools will be able to apply for up to $10,000 to help cover the cost of chaplains. See the Team Beattie paper (pdf). This is an election promise which means that we’ll have to wait and see if it actually gets put into action. Clearly the Atheist and Secular Humanist associations are not happy. I’d guess the Australian Democrats will be miffed, judging from their God and Government policy.

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