Thursday, February 12, 2009

Explains A Lot

My de-evolution fun (previous post) was cut short when my father sent me the following story. A new Gallup poll shows that less than 4 in 10 Americans believe in evolution.

On Darwin’s Birthday, Only 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution: Belief drops to 24% among frequent church attenders
by Frank Newport, Gallup.com
February 11, 2009

I feel I must quibble with the wording of the report tho' -- since I don't think "believe in" applies to a time-tested set of scientific evidence in the same way that 'belief' in creationism does. And to harp further, it is only "belief" (dare I add "blind"...) that works for creationism, because any degree of critical thought shows the innumerable flaws in the idea...beginning with the presence of two Creation stories in the Bible, the lack of agreement between those two stories, the fact that time periods are described as days before there was a Sun, and so on, and so on, and so on. (I know, I know -- my trip to the Creation Museum clearly did not take hold).

As I become older and increasingly intolerant, I'm starting to think that they (the big They, you know, Them) should make everyone of voting age take at least 1 biology course (taught by an actual biologist) and one course on Biblical Exegesis - not for the theological component, but so they learn how to read ancient texts for what they are!! Only after receiving an "A" in each are you allowed to cast a vote.

Harsh, I know, but COME ON?!! Less than 4 in 10??!!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Professor,
I believe your devoted research assistant should get a degree for keeping you informed about the real world outside of academia. belief believe -accept something as true - feel sure of the truth of the statement. As one knows, science does not prove things it just gives the best known theory at the time. Therefore, I guess the 6 of 10 think in their head that evolution is fact, but, in their heart they are open to other views - JUST IN CASE. But as for your research assistant, I believe in evolution.
Sven
Happy Valentine's Day. Did you get anything?

Sue said...
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