Comments | gsa_lj: Community Demographics

tko_ak in gsa_lj

Community Demographics

Jul 12, 2008 16:52

Below is our semi-annual community demographics survey. It covers a gamut of questions - some of which are predictable, others which aren't. I encourage you to take a few minutes and fill it out. I find this sort of thing fascinating, and I know I'm not alone in that regard ( Read more... )

membership surveys, demographics, administrivia

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starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:20:08 UTC

um not to be annoying but why do you have an option for wiccan but not an option for pagan? just curious. not all pagans are wiccan, and there's no other option than other.

trialia July 13 2008, 01:22:22 UTC

eh, they don't have Unitarian either. *is*

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:23:53 UTC

i guess it only bugs me because i tend to get, oh so you're wiccan? when i tell people i'm pagan. um no if i were wiccan i would say that i were wiccan. i'm pagan. it's not the same thing.

trialia July 13 2008, 01:26:13 UTC

I know. I don't like being left out of these things either.

tko_ak July 13 2008, 01:27:30 UTC

I thought about adding a pagan as well, but eh. I had to draw the line somewhere to not include everything I could think of (even LJ has a limit). So I'm sorry if you felt slighted.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:29:16 UTC

it's not a matter of slight- it's more that it's ALWAYS left off.

and my major is showing (master's in soc)

it's more that it's easy to go wiccan/pagan but people overlook the fact that they're not one in the same

tko_ak July 13 2008, 01:33:47 UTC

I know they're not one in the same, and I think I had originally written pagan (which was probably what I should have gone with), but I know from past experiences that Wiccan is a surprisingly popular answer in the gay community.

novus_semita July 13 2008, 02:43:44 UTC

I think a lot of people label themselves as Wiccan without fully understanding the religion.

keito_f July 13 2008, 01:36:08 UTC

Could you have added an "other" that allowed one to specify?

This is really minor, but I would have liked to have been able to designate more than one in teh religious category, but I recognize I'd probably be the only one to use it.

Also I would have loved the "I don't like labels" to be an option

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:37:12 UTC

i probably would have actually, use it i mean, and then my inner SocCop wouldn't have come out lol.

tko_ak July 13 2008, 01:40:14 UTC

You can choose one type of answer...so you couldn't select other and then have them say what it is. Although people can comment if they want to.

In the past, I included the option to choose more than one, but it led to people screwing with it (selecting everyone to fuck with the results, for example).

The poll isn't perfect, and far from scientific. It's just supposed to be something interesting, not entirely accurate.

novus_semita July 13 2008, 02:47:49 UTC

In a nut shell, could you explain those differences? I like the idea of nature worship and communing with it but dislike the concept of magic being "real". I do however strongly believe in the concept of karma.

I labeled myself as Wiccan for awhile but found that the religion didn't suit my views and now whenever someone asks me about religion I just say its complicated...

starfish327 July 13 2008, 02:51:54 UTC

wicca is a specific path of paganism, whereas paganism is the umbrella term for any number of nature based religions, including satanism (hoping i don't get flamed for that one, i've been so often i'm paranoid), chaos majick, shamanism, and witchcraft.

pagans believe that nature is sacred, and may or may not include working with energy and/or magick

wicca is a type of paganism that promotes a very...nice relationship between people and nature. i'm not sure how else to word it. wiccans believe in attempting not to harm anyone or anything because of the karmic ramifications. they have a specific way of approaching majick and ritual that may or may not line up with other pagan paths.

originalpuck July 13 2008, 21:00:42 UTC

pagans believe that nature is sacred, and may or may not include working with energy and/or magick

Ah, see, now that's not entirely correct. There are many reconstructionist paths that don't revolve around the idea that nature is sacred (or even agree with it). I'm a Hellenic Polytheist, and while some people might believe nature is sacred, that's not really anywhere in our basic religious tenants.

I would say that paganism is an umbrella term for different faiths who believe in multiple divinities, but even that isn't true (certain indigineous and shamanic paths are pantheistic, and there are soft polytheists that believe all divine beings are merely aspects of one ultimate divinity). It's sort of like trying to figure out what creates a common thread between faiths identified as "Abrahamic," etc.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 21:03:48 UTC

yeah i know, but i tend to go the definition that shows up the most when asked, because it tends to makes things a lot less complicated (at least for me).

i'm a gray witch who does very little if any work with nature per se, but at the same time a lot of the paths that i personally have run into it factors in on some level.

halogencycle July 13 2008, 01:25:53 UTC

Wouldn't that be covered under "Agnostic"? *runs*

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