[Buddha-l] Buddhism, the second largest religion in the world

[L.S. Cousins]

Joanna,

>JK. How about the word "members of" rather than highly or visibly or anyhow
>committed? This would of course get to organization stats if they existed.

Many religious traditions don't have any kind of formal organization 
or whatever organization they have is a matter of personal 
preference. This criterion essentially privileges a Protestant 
conception of the nature of religion.

Moreover, many organizations systematically lie about their 
membership in order to get more funding.

>  > In a way, that is reasonable in that it offers something you could in
>>  theory measure.
>       Yes
>>   So I would prefer to use Census figures which generally constitute the
>>  individual's own assessment.
>
>JK. Based on the kinds of questions census forms ask, this type of material
>would be quite unreliable in the case of this topic.

I am not sure what you mean. I would take the view that we should 
respect people's answers. Why do you think they are particularly 
unreliable ?

>Where that is
>>  not available you just have to make an honest estimate that is broadly
>>  comparable.
>
>JK.  Yes, and honest estimates will vary, an inherent limitation.

Clearly. But that is still better than blatantly dishonest estimates.

Lance Cousins