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winterbadgerThe three Republican presidential candidates who indicated last month that they do not believe in evolution may have been taking a safe stance on the issue when it comes to appealing to GOP voters.
A Gallup poll released Monday said that while the country is about evenly split over whether the theory of evolution is true, Republicans disbelieve it by more than 2-to-1.
Republicans saying they don't believe in evolution outnumbered those who do by 68 percent to 30 percent in the survey. Democrats believe in evolution by 57 percent to 40 percent, as do independents by a 61 percent to 37 percent margin.
from a CBS News article
What I find dispiriting is not that nearly 70% of Republicans believe in the Tooth Fairy, but that nearly half of *Democrats* do as well, and over a third of independents.
What next? Are Americans still big supporters of the Flat Earth Theory? Are we convincned that the Sun and the planets revolve around the Earth, perhaps in a series of concentric crystal spheres? Are we going back to trial by fire and water sometime soon?
Don't tell me this isn't the effect of religious fanaticism. Ignorance and lack of education can produce a lack of knowledge, but only mysticism and dogma actively struggle agaisnt science.
A Gallup poll released Monday said that while the country is about evenly split over whether the theory of evolution is true, Republicans disbelieve it by more than 2-to-1.
Republicans saying they don't believe in evolution outnumbered those who do by 68 percent to 30 percent in the survey. Democrats believe in evolution by 57 percent to 40 percent, as do independents by a 61 percent to 37 percent margin.
from a CBS News article
What I find dispiriting is not that nearly 70% of Republicans believe in the Tooth Fairy, but that nearly half of *Democrats* do as well, and over a third of independents.
What next? Are Americans still big supporters of the Flat Earth Theory? Are we convincned that the Sun and the planets revolve around the Earth, perhaps in a series of concentric crystal spheres? Are we going back to trial by fire and water sometime soon?
Don't tell me this isn't the effect of religious fanaticism. Ignorance and lack of education can produce a lack of knowledge, but only mysticism and dogma actively struggle agaisnt science.
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Date: 2007-06-21 05:22 pm (UTC)Actually, I find staggering amounts of ignorance regaring evolution even in the half-scientific field. People believe that evolution means progressing to something "better"--that is, toward something inherently more intelligent or prettier or more moral righteousness...they don't get that evolution places no moral worth on anything. It's just a process of ensuring that an organism is well adapted to its environment.
There are so many people out there that *need* to feel as though they will be taken care of...they must have a celestial parent figure that watches out and protects them. The theory of evolution takes that away from them, and they have to consider that possibility that they have to be responsible for their own lives. It's far easier to refuse to believe that humans are animals (like everything else) than accept that there isn't a Big Daddy in the sky...or that our own happiness is determined by the choice we make.
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Date: 2007-06-21 06:31 pm (UTC)There was a marvelous piece on the History Channel (?) the other day which started off all scientific and serious and stuff, talking about the guy who investigated the Tunguska event in the 1920s, then transferring, without almost any serious discussion of meteorite or asteroid impact, to a Russian theory that it was the result of space aliens. Nowhere did they reveal that the author of this theory was a noted *science fiction writer*; instead, they suggested he was a noted *scientist*.
I think I'm going to start referring to it as the Mystery Channel...
Actually, I find staggering amounts of ignorance regaring evolution even in the half-scientific field. People believe that evolution means progressing to something "better"
Indeed. 'Progress' has that terrifically loaded connotation. I'm also astounded by the virulence with which many scientists INSIST that there can be no place for religion or faith in the examination of nature. Equally as foolish and wrong-headed as those who insist that religion is the only source of truth.
There are so many people out there that *need* to feel as though they will be taken care of.
What I find most disturbing is the tendency of so many religions to try to assert their ability to answer all questions, provide a rationale for eveything, and assure people that if you follow their system we will be happy then, when they fail (as anyone would), instead of being sensible and saying "Oh, well, we really *can't* explain that," (as some religions have the sense to do), they invoke the Afterlife and say that this world "isn't really real" or "is just a precursor of True Life" or some other rubbish. It's a bad, bad practice, because it shifts the whole focus of moral and ethical teaching from the obvious consequences of our actions on the world around us to some imaginary future to which they can claim sole knowledge and make up any old rules they like.
All drive-by with my comments today.
Date: 2007-06-21 07:27 pm (UTC)Hee! I call it The Hitlery Channel myself.
Making jokes so that I don't have to think about those stats. LA LA LA.
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Date: 2007-06-21 05:51 pm (UTC)CIA "rendition": I'd say you already have.
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Date: 2007-06-21 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-21 05:53 pm (UTC)Some people might believe in "guided evolution" (which isn't quite the same as "intelligent design"), but "creationism" is pretty much considered to be a fairy tale for the pre-schoolers.
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Date: 2007-06-21 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-23 01:47 am (UTC)Dirt-ignorant
Date: 2007-06-21 08:55 pm (UTC)I’d hate to think that people believe that a majority of Christians believe in creationism. Based on this poll, you could probably make the argument that a majority of U.S. Christians believe this – but, if true, that’s a terrible indictment of our education system. Most people in the U.S. also think that Aliens regularly kidnap people and mutilate cattle.
I would go out on a limb and say that it's probably hard to find a professed Christian who has 12 or more years of education (and makes, say $50,000 a year) who believes in Creationism.
Re: Dirt-ignorant
Date: 2007-06-21 09:55 pm (UTC)Sen. Sam Brownback, who is one of the Republican presidential candidates cited in the CBS article as having volunteered his belief that evolution is untrue, is a Roman Catholic. He was raised as a Methodist. The loathsome Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania and a supporter of "intelligent design" and opponent of the teaching of evolution, is a Roman Catholic. Yes, the Catholic Church does not officially dispute evolution, but many of its followers do.
And whether one likes them or not, I think one has to include at least some Baptists, as well as Congregationalists, Methodists, and Quakers as mainline Protestants. :-)
I’d hate to think that people believe that a majority of Christians believe in creationism.
Judging from the poll itself, a majority of AMERICANS believe in Creationism. When asked about "Creationism, that is, the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years", 66% said that they thought it was definitely or probably true.
I would go out on a limb and say that it's probably hard to find a professed Christian who has 12 or more years of education (and makes, say $50,000 a year) who believes in Creationism.
That's an incredibly rash statement to make. Brownback has a bachelor's and a J.D. Huckabee has a bachelor's and a theology degree. Tancredo has a university degree and is a former schoolteacher (god help the children who learned history from him!) Philip Anschutz, one of the primary sponsors of Major League Soccer, is a billionaire; he is also an evangelical Presbyterian and a supporter of the Discovery Insitute, which funds "research" into discrediting evolution and propagandizes for "intelligent design". Santorum holds a B.A., an M.B.A., and a law degree.
I don't think *all* Christians believe in Creationism. Nor do I think that all Christians are conservative, or ignorant, or uneducated. I know plenty of Christians who are intelligent, well educated, progressive people. What I find disturbing about this country is that there are a lot of conservative Christians who cannot simply be dismissed as stupid. They are intelligent, educated people who truly believe this stuff. And I find that very, very worrying.
Re: Well I can dismiss them as stupid :>
Date: 2007-06-22 03:57 pm (UTC)I agree whole-heartedly.
I’m not really arguing the fact that a huge number of my fellow countrymen are theologically complacent swine – It’s just that I don’t know anyone like these people myself. I have dozens of friends who practice some form of Christian - and there is only one couple in what I must assume is the creationist camp – and they are very kind.
I don’t really think my statement is that rash. When were talking about all Christians in the U.S. - there's a huge line between educated and uneducated - I think the vast majority of creationism proponents are either intellectually lazy, overly complacent or simply lack a liberal arts education. I can only hope that people like Brownback, J.D. Huckabee, Tancredo, (and the exceptionally evil) Santorum, as leaders of the movement, bust the education curve for the rest of their ilk
I suppose I identify myself primarily as Christian so I don’t want you to think of me and many I hold dear as fanatical, judgmental sociopaths. I’m not the kind of person that thinks it’s socially acceptable to discuss money, religion or politics with strangers – but I hate to think that new people I meet and with whom I would otherwise have a great deal in common are going to lump me in with the likes of Santorum. . I can only imagine that there are a fair number of Muslims walking around that feel they have to explain to others that they are not THEM.
Re: Well I can dismiss them as stupid :>
Date: 2007-06-22 04:30 pm (UTC)But you said "it's probably hard to find a professed Christian who has 12 or more years of education (and makes, say $50,000 a year) who believes in Creationism". And in less than five minutes I named half a dozen, and those are among the richest, most powerful, and certainly in the ranks of well educated Americans. I fear you are trying as hard as possible to believe something in the face of significant evidence to the contrary.
"I suppose I identify myself primarily as Christian so I don’t want you to think of me and many I hold dear as fanatical, judgmental sociopaths."
I would never think that of you or of the other Christian people I knwo and dearly love (my parents, my sister, her partner, my ex-wife, the wonderful man who married Chris and me--I reserve judgement on my godfather and my childhood vicar). Jimmy Carter is a Southern Baptist and a devout Christian, and I think one without question one of the smartest and certainly the most admirable president we have had or are likely to have in my lifetime, and I would never think of him in those terms.
"I’m not the kind of person that thinks it’s socially acceptable to discuss money, religion or politics with strangers – but I hate to think that new people I meet and with whom I would otherwise have a great deal in common are going to lump me in with the likes of Santorum."
That, I fear, is the great quandry for moderate and progressive Christians. Because a basic tenet of moderation is not thrusting one's views on others, one gives the pulpit over, so to speak, to the evangelicals. Who, after all, are ALL about pushing other people to accept their beliefs.