Results of a survey asking people to rate the mental abilities of a person in a persistent vegetative state and the mental abilities of a dead person:

<< Irreligious participants gave the buried corpse about the same mental ratings as the vegetative patient (-1.51 and -1.64 respectively). Religious participants, however, continued to ascribe less mind to the irretrievably unconscious David than they did to his buried corpse (-1.57 and 0.59). >>

Source:
http://www.economist.com/node/21526321

Anybody care to speculate about what the survey participants were thinking?