Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Friday, February 13, 2009

BAD NEWS FOR AMERICA: WE'RE DUMB WHEN IT COMES TO EVOLUTION


The most technologically advanced country in the world has a majority of its population that does NOT believe in or have an opinion on evolution?

I hate to use the word "believe" when referring to this. It's like saying a group of people don't believe in or have an opinion on gravity.

The Gallup poll taken was based on telephone interviews with 1,018 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb. 6-7, 2009, as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.


The poll showed that those who have a higher level of education understand that evolution is a fact and that those who attend church the most do not understand that evolution is a fact.




PRINCETON, NJ -- On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, a new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an opinion either way. These attitudes are strongly related to education and, to an even greater degree, religiosity.
Those with high-school educations or less are much more likely to have no opinion than are those who have more formal education. Still, among those with high-school educations or less who have an opinion on Darwin's theory, more say they do not believe in evolution than say they believe in it. For all other groups, and in particular those who have at least a college degree, belief is significantly higher than nonbelief.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing that we're still THAT dumb.

Unknown said...

To believe in evolution, is to believe in and understand science.

So it's not surprising that the uneducated and those who take their education from the bible, don't believe in, or understand science and evolution.

Arthurstone said...

I still enjoy the story of Jesus driving the dinosaurs out of the temple.

The J Mopper said...

It's ironic that evolution seems to have eluded those who don't believe in it...

dmarks said...

Arthurstone: There were episodes of "Land of the Lost" with temples and dinosaurs. There were no episodes with Jesus, however. But the way it was going, if they had done the show a 4th season, there would have been appearances by Jesus, along with Romans, Amazon women, and the like.

JoeBama "Truth 101" Kelly said...

It amuses me when devout Christians state their belief in creationism despite the fact that nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about creationism. But it is a known scientific fact proven by the renowned science department of Liberty University that Adam and Eve had a pet dinosaur named Topper.

Arthurstone said...

dmarks typed:


"Land of the Lost"

Yipes.

There's a part of our cultural patrimony I'd closed a door on.

Trying to imagine an evening with 'Land of the Lost', 'Planet of the Apes, and ....'Rhoda'. Or 'Kung Fu'.

Shudder.

The Griper said...

i would suggest, shaw, as a very good friend, that you think your issues through thoroughly before writing on them. you leave yourself wide open for attack from one of those hateful conservatives, and i mean wide open too.

Shaw Kenawe said...

If you're referring to my post on evolution, I'll let the recent Gallup poll speak for itself.

The fact is that the US population lags behind the rest of the highly developed Western democracies when it comes to its stubborn refusal to accept evolution as fact.


I stand by that fact.

Gordon Scott said...

Griper,

Our gal Shaw likes to lead with her chin sometimes. It's our job to give her a tap on it with the tip of a finger, just to remind her that we're here, most of us are not queer, and that the former head of the Office of the President-Elect of the United States ain't living up to his billing or his promises.

She doesn't bruise easily.

Shaw Kenawe said...

No one is judged on one month's worth of work. Especially a president who inherited a disasterous economy, AND two wars.

That's just foolish.

Jeebus. Even the lowliest of lowly jobs has a 3-month grace period before the employer decides to keep or fire the employee.

And you're passing judgment on Obama less than a month into the most complicated, difficult job on the planet?

Has he made mistakes, errors, slip-ups? Well, D'uh! Is he human?

Are you?

Sometimes when you write stuff like that, I wonder if you're not just a conservabot.

dmarks said...

Arthur: You can keep the Kung Fu and Rhoda (and Phyllis, too!). I can't get enough of LOTL and POTA....

Arthurstone said...

Shaw-

We've evolved (with the 'help' of a breathless 24/7 media obsessed with titillation) into a nation of consumers with the attention span and patience of gnats.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Arthurstone,

I just spent the most beautiful evening listening to Schubert's String Quintet in C Major.

It takes almost an hour to listen to it.

How many people would invest that much time to listen to a piece of music.

I love many forms of music--except teeny-bopper bubble-gum crap (which, unfortunately, describes most pop music).

I don't understand why more people don't take the time to learn classical music. Or other genre.

Maybe the reason lies in your last post.

Short attention span.

And it's getting worse I belive because of the meat grinder of 24/7news cycle that needs more and more scraps of suet to keep it going.

Just look at the number of people ready to judge Barack Obama's presidency as a failure.

Arthurstone said...

Sadly the world of classical music isn't immune to the phenomenon of ADD. A few years ago attending a piano concert I watched Andras Schiff walk off the stage after an onslaught of coughing & rustling of plastic wrap from throat lozenge. People couldn't sit still for one hour. At an Alfred Brendel concert I was seated in front of a guy talking about the MUSIC during the performance. Yipes.

There is no escape.