The Catholic Church or The "Gallup" Church?
I have noticed for some time now, even before the election of Pope Benedict, that the Media (including the Catholic press media) have been relying on public opinion polls to underscore their stories. Although I suppose that it would be unfair to demand that the various outlets discontinue quoting various polls in their stories about the Church and the Pope, I do think that at the very least they should examine their polling practices.
Polls can be a useful tool. But like any tool, it can be misused and in the case of polls, it often is. A hammer, undoubtedly a very useful tool for driving nails, can also be a devastating weapon when used to strike someone on the head. Far too often, I think, the latter is the case with polls purporting to reflect the "true" beliefs of Catholics in regard to Doctrine, faith, liturgy, the Church in general and the Pope. And why else should this be except to color the general public's image of the way Catholics view their Church and the faith they proclaim to hold dear?
Let us look briefly at the well known abuse of polling during the general election of 2004 between George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. In the months leading up to election day, very few polls reported Mr. Bush to be in the lead or if they did, the lead was within a percentage point or two and often evaporated with the nightly network news reports. Even on election day itself, when exit polling could be employed (considered by experts to be the most accurate type of polling since you are sampling actual voters and not people who merely "intend" to vote), the polling through most of the day reported that John Kerry had a commanding lead. This misreading of the exit polls continued until the first actual election returns began to roll in. Suddenly the Media had to admit that there could have been some technical errors in the pollster's data.
I do not pretend to be an expert on statistics so I do not intend to float any theories as to why the polls were so consistently incorrect, however, I think that the lessons of election day 2004 can and should be applied to many of the polls that purport to correctly represent the Catholic Mind. In short, polls of this type should be viewed with a critical eye. Often these polls are funded or conducted by organizations which have a vested interest in seeing the status of the Church lowered. Let us not forget that the Catholic Church is the very last organized bastion against abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriage, divorce on demand and any number of other liberal, secular humanist goals. Where once the great mainline Protestant denominations could be counted on to speak and teach against the vices of the secular world, they have in the intervening years fallen one by one into the secular humanist camp. Beginning with the lifting of the bans against artificial contraception, the various denominations have fallen so far as to embrace abortion on demand and ordaining homosexual bishops.
But my intention here is not to harangue our estranged brothers in Christ although I pray that one day they come to their collective senses. No, my intention is to warn you, dear reader, to the dangers of taking polling data at face value. When you read a report from a "respected" news agency that less than half of all Catholics in United States are happy that Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope or that the same number reject one Church teaching or another, ask yourself if the pollster went the extra mile to ensure that his data was not corrupted by outside influence or personal bias. Who was polled? Catholics who attend church at least once a year or weekly? Did the pollster make his calls from the lists provided by Catholics for a Free Choice?
Perhaps we as Catholics and Christians should ignore poll results altogether. After all, Christianity was never a popularity contest. Christ Himself was left nearly alone to hang on a cross. The Apostles began the Church with only a handful of followers who were persecuted by the Jewish hierarchy. Christians have been brutally persecuted on and off for the last 2000 years and I expect that before it is all over, faithful Christians may find themselves back where we started.
At the beginning if you were to have taken a poll I am sure that the majority would have said that these Christians were not a going concern. I think that the polls today are saying pretty much the same thing. Of course, polls have been known to be wrong.
Labels: Catholic, Catholicism
posted by Norm Johnson @ 10:21 PM
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