Answers to a kids 'Morality' science project

I was just enjoying myself, trawling the usual blogs, when I stoped at PMomma's and read this post in particular:

SCIENCE

Some of the people who read it have either laughed, responded to the questions, or both. Personally, I found myself frowning in disbelief. I don't care if the kid is in sixth-grade (that's what, ten years old, eleven? I'm British, I'm not entirely sure how the American grade system works.) that was still not a scientific project, not even in the loosest terms. It boggles my mind, trying to figure out how he got away with it.

As I said in my response to her post, when I was that age, at least I knew the difference between scientific and non-scientific questions. My heart bleeds for the generations growing up with no idea what true science is.

Anyway, I decided to fill out the questionair to see how I scored. There is no real indication given of how the point-system works, so I'll arbitrarily decide that a point is given for good answers and a point taken away for bad (the kid arbitrarily decided that anything less than 15 is 'immoral' and anything above 15 'moral' - so I'm sure I can get away with arbitrarily deciding on how to arrange the giving/taking-away of points.)

Project Title: Better Living Through God
Question: Do unchristians make less moral choices than Christians?

Hypothesis: The Bible is the perfect guide to life that shows us how to be moral people. Without believing in the Bible you can't know God and he can't guide you and give you rewards for being a good person. I think people who aren't Christian will be less successful.

Experiment: I will interview thirty people and ask them if they are Christian. I will give them the same questions so I have a control sample. I think they are immoral if they score lower than 15.

Questions I will ask. There are 20 points available.

1. Have you ever spoke the name of our Lord in vain? - Yes
It's 'spoken' (or even 'spake' if you want to go old-school) - and all the time. I have a habit of deliberately taking the lords name.

2. Have you ever killed another human being? - No
Not so far as I remember.

3. Have you every lied? - Yes
Yes, frequently.

4. Have you ever had relations before marriage? - Yes
That would be 'sexual relations' - and yes.

5. Do you go to church every Sunday or once a week? - No
There are more than two Sunday's in a week? And I haven't attended church since I was ten or so. I'm now 25... so that's fifteen years worth of 'no'.

6. Do you wish you had more stuff? - Yes
Depends what type of 'stuff' you mean. I could definately do with more art materials, and I do wish I had more money, to pay off debts and bills and buy food. Or do you mean that in the materialistic sense? Certainly, I wouldn't mind having some more books to add to my collection, I've read everything I own at least twice.

7. Do you gossip? - Yes
Of course I do, I'm Human. I hold to the belief that Humans are a gossiping race, that it's our way of afirming that yes, we are still alive and that people care about us and what we think.

8. Do you give to charity? - No
Very rarely, unfortunately. I can barely afford to feed myself and my cats, so I really don't think I can afford to give any money to other people.

9. Do you listen to rap or heavy metal music? - No
Nope. I'm sick of the lyrics in rap and don't consider most heavy metal to even be music.

10. Have you ever had an abortion or been pro-choice? - No and Yes
This is two seperate questions. No to the first and yes to the second. But, do morning after pills count? Because really - exactly where do you draw the line with pregnancies? The very instant the egg is fertilised, or when it's started dividing, or when it starts looking humanoid?

11. Have you ever read Harry Potter or Spiderwick Chronicles or the Golden Compass? - Yes
I have read all of the above and found them all to be thoroughly enjoyable, though the end of Harry Potter was disapointing.

12. Do you see movies with unwholesome content? - Yes
Frequently - but what exactly do you consider 'unwholesome'?

13. Do you pray every day? - No
Nope.

14. Do you believe that God is the creator of heaven and earth? - No
Nope.

15. Are you overweight because you eat too much? - No
That's very presumptuous of you. I am overwieght, but I don't overeat. So I'll take that as a 'no'.

16. Do you take pride in accomplishments other than service to God? - Yes
I don't give any services to 'God' - so, yes.

17. Do you put God and Jesus first? - No
Certainly not.

18. Do you view pornography? - Yes
All the time. I even draw it and write it.

19. Do you practice temperance in every thing you do? - No
Hrm. No, not in everything I do.

20. Are you quick to anger? - Yes
Unfortunately, yes I am. And slow to cool down, too.



Hrm, I scored a wonderful '3' points. Or '-17', however you want to look at it. But I have to point out that basically, none of these questions had anything to do with morality - except perhaps the 'muder' one. Also, none of the questions use the same style - some are 'yes-no' while others invite extensive answers.

I hope this kid got an 'F' - but I doubt it. This was his conclusion:

Conclusion: We are all sinners and need to ask God's forgiveness and repent. Since Christianity shows us how to do that, it would make people more moral if they became Christians.

Mostly because he recieved almost unanimously negative results. Which should probably clue him in to a few things, but obviously wont.

H