Anglican 'traditionalists' relase poll thaqt shows their support is slipping, claims far exceed their 'data'
This is just my personal opinion - Tom Jackson
The ultra-conservative "Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion (LEAC)" has just released a news release claiming "Episcopal Bishops, If Voting Secretly, Would Oppose Church's Stance on Homosexual Agenda Items Adopted in 2003, a Lay Poll Reports." Fortunately, this claim is not supported in the summary data they report in the release.
The Washington-based organization claimed 27% of about 300 bishops responded to the study, but that cannot be confirmed as the "poll" was not conducted by a reputable survey organization. It is more than slightly dishonest to claim as valid or representative a poll that 75 percent of the bishops refuse to participate in and is conducted by an advocacy group to promote their own agenda.
LEAC claimed that 57.5% of respondents would oppose, in secret ballot, provisions for church blessing of same-sex partnerships, and 56.25% would oppose consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson. It then argued "Those votes, in a confidential and secret blind-research environment, reversed tallies in open voting at the 2003 General Convention." In fact, presuming that all Bishops who oppose Bishop Robinson participated in the survey, the survey results show a significant decline in opposition to the Bishop of New Hampshire.
But LEAC cannot be sure all of their surveys were actually returned by bishops. LEAC's claims to have "good sample to tabulate out of 298 which we believe were delivered to bishops" borders on downright deceit. They don't even know if their surveys were delivered to each of the bishops, nor can they say that the ones returned came from bishops, nor can they claim any sort of statistical validity in a survey that is not conducted on a random basis (all this shows is that those "bishops" - if they are bishops - who responded agreed with LEAC).
LEAC claims "respondents split 46.25% to 45% in favoring sticking with the liberalized American Church in the event of a complete split with the worldwide communion." So of the 75 "bishops" participating in the survey less than half would favor not "sticking" with the American Episcopal Church. The survey does not suggest how many of these "bishops" are willing to take the lead in splitting the Episcopal Church.
The ultra-conservative "Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion (LEAC)" has just released a news release claiming "Episcopal Bishops, If Voting Secretly, Would Oppose Church's Stance on Homosexual Agenda Items Adopted in 2003, a Lay Poll Reports." Fortunately, this claim is not supported in the summary data they report in the release.
The Washington-based organization claimed 27% of about 300 bishops responded to the study, but that cannot be confirmed as the "poll" was not conducted by a reputable survey organization. It is more than slightly dishonest to claim as valid or representative a poll that 75 percent of the bishops refuse to participate in and is conducted by an advocacy group to promote their own agenda.
LEAC claimed that 57.5% of respondents would oppose, in secret ballot, provisions for church blessing of same-sex partnerships, and 56.25% would oppose consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson. It then argued "Those votes, in a confidential and secret blind-research environment, reversed tallies in open voting at the 2003 General Convention." In fact, presuming that all Bishops who oppose Bishop Robinson participated in the survey, the survey results show a significant decline in opposition to the Bishop of New Hampshire.
But LEAC cannot be sure all of their surveys were actually returned by bishops. LEAC's claims to have "good sample to tabulate out of 298 which we believe were delivered to bishops" borders on downright deceit. They don't even know if their surveys were delivered to each of the bishops, nor can they say that the ones returned came from bishops, nor can they claim any sort of statistical validity in a survey that is not conducted on a random basis (all this shows is that those "bishops" - if they are bishops - who responded agreed with LEAC).
LEAC claims "respondents split 46.25% to 45% in favoring sticking with the liberalized American Church in the event of a complete split with the worldwide communion." So of the 75 "bishops" participating in the survey less than half would favor not "sticking" with the American Episcopal Church. The survey does not suggest how many of these "bishops" are willing to take the lead in splitting the Episcopal Church.
posted by Tom Jackson at
3/31/2006 11:40:00 AM
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