Will Provine

Gordon Simons (simons@stat.unc.edu)
Fri, 9 Feb 1996 17:05:20 -0500 (EST)

On 9 Feb 1996, Jim Bell wrote:
>>.... Provine likes to turn theists into atheists. He's up front about
this, and says he has a very good "success" rate.<<

To which Thomas Moore replied:
>>I think this is true. It's also interesting that he feels that giving
balanced treatment of creation and evolution will generate more
atheists (and he might be right). As a result, he's an advocate of
teaching creationism in high schools, etc.

On the other hand, I pointed out to him that his surveys may not mean
that much at the end of the course. I suggested he should survey the
students again 5-10 years down the road. He liked that idea, but given
his present condition, I don't think that will happen.<<

Presumably the most relevant survey would occur in hell - a place Will
Provine readily says he's going if he's wrong about his atheism. I may be
the only statistician involved with the reflector, but I am not
volunteering! (I am finding it hard enough to get complete enough data on
the age distribution of you guys in the reflector - a simpler task, which
I have not given up.)

Gordie