Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Via Political Wire, here's some mighty disheartening news about the state of modern America. A just-released Gallup poll found:
Only about a third of Americans believe that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a scientific theory that has been well supported by the evidence, while just as many say that it is just one of many theories and has not been supported by the evidence. The rest say they don't know enough to say. Forty-five percent of Americans also believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago. A third of Americans are biblical literalists who believe that the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.
What can you even say about this? I know we are supposed to be reaching out and trying to find common ground with our conservative countrymen, but those three statements above... I give up. Anybody over the age of 12 who still believes that stuff in 2004 is simply too divorced from reality to be reached. Just not worth the effort. I wish I could be delicate and polite about this, but you know, I just can't. If you believe Darwin is unsupported by the facts, then you haven't bothered to look at the facts. Ever. Your silverware options should be restricted to plastic sporks so you don't injure yourself.
I return to my original thesis of a couple weeks ago. We should be striving to make such beliefs the hallmark of the Republican Party. Just like Elizabeth Bumiller pestering Kerry with the meaningless "Are you a liberal?" question during the primary debate, GOP officeholders should be forced to publicly defend or deny those positions every time a Q&A session gets underway.
"Senator McCain, do you believe that Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection is unsupported by the facts?"
"Vice President Cheney, do you believe that the entire fossil record is a hoax and that humans were created 10,000 years ago?"
"President Bush, do you believe that sex in a 2nd marriage is, in all cases, adultery?" (Mark 10:9)
How a country with this much wealth, media access, and free public education ends up with huge swaths of the population holding beliefs that were ripped straight from the Dark Ages is a mystery I may never resolve. Here's the framing, folks: Democrats are the party of science and education; Republicans are the party of religious extremism. Most Christians I know are completely rational, intelligent, and aghast at the anti-intellectualism of their fundamentalist brethren. They may share some iconography but they ascribe to two totally dissimilar religions. The GOP should have a price to pay for feeding this constituency.
And if you work in any area of scientific research (except, I guess, in the fields of weapons development or fossil fuel extraction) and still voted for this ticket despite their stunning record of hostility toward science, you should be ashamed. You knew better.
TrackBackThis isn't new. I attended a religion-reporting seminar at the University of Maryland's specializ-ed-journalism center in 1996 at which we were given similar numbers by someone from the Gallup organization. In fact, I'm not certain there was ever a point in which belief in evolution topped 50% of the American public.
I highly recommend reading "Case for Creationism" by Stroebel(might have the name mispelled). Not all creationist are rightwing radicals who believe that the earth was created 10,000 years ago. The book is very engaging, and the facts it presents are very checkable by anyone who cars to check them. Also, there is a big difference between microevolution and macroevolution. Microevolution is what happens inside a species. Macroevolution is what happens when one species evolves from another. Micro-e has been proven. Macro-e has not.
Regards and have a good night!
In addition, if you consider Dembski's epistemological analysis of the antediluvian fossil record, you may discover... What? Excuse me? Using big words DOESN'T mean I'm not a fool? Well then, um...
I ain't descended from no MONKEYS! Yer gonna BURN Apostropher! Burn in fiery hot liberal Darwin hell!
Posted by: Karl at November 23, 2004 01:51 AMReproduced from an email to Political Wire.
Dear editor,
Your link regarding the Gallup Poll and the Evolution Theory data was very interesting. However, your final line stating "Well, that certainly explains a lot" was very insulting. I'm a daily reader of the Political Wire and find your service valuable and informative. But that type of elitist, superior attitude is disgusting. This comes from a man who is a Democrat, a liberal, and a Christian.
I understand the belief that people who dispute hard data are uninformed or stupid and many times I believe and buy into those stereotypes. However, this is an issue largely without absolute resolution. Scientists may unearth mounds of data that says man descended from monkeys, pigeons, whales, what have you. But belief in that which is not seen, not heard, not felt, and easy to dismiss is not reason for ridicule or disparagement.
In the future, please consider your own commentary before posting it on the website. It just might insult someone who'd consider a peer.
--
Posted by: Travis at November 23, 2004 02:07 AM"Also, there is a big difference between microevolution and macroevolution."
This, and the argument that the flood changed everything, thus invalidating carbon-dating, are the two arguments that the neo-creationists are using to try and sound rational.
I had this argument with family recently. Wonderful, loving, intelligent people. Brainwashed into believing the earth was once covered by more water than now exists in any form and that carbon-dating technology changed because of the percentage of water vapor that was in the atmosphere prior to the flood.
I haven't yet gotten an answer as to why carbon dating works on moon rocks, which were, I suppose, not involved in said flood.
Posted by: drfranklives at November 23, 2004 10:35 AMI'm paraphrasing this from a commentator on Washington Monthly.
Perhaps when someone asks "do you believe in evolution" the listener hears "Do you believe life is meaningless and you are nothing more than a filthy animal, or do you believe God loves you and has created you for a reason?"
Posted by: Tripp at November 23, 2004 03:24 PM
It is worse than that. A handful of my family members, otherwise educated people, voted on some other issue - like abortion or *gasp* single mothers getting all that tax money. Others I know are just republicans because of family tradition. When told that they are now getting lumped into this group of often racist, fundamentalist, extremists, they do not care. They face the same blind insanity everywhere and they shrug. Most of the American population is so apathetic that they just move like an obedient herd despite evidence, logic, or long-term self-interest. The real fundys were just the additional votes to get this ticket's numbers over the top.
Posted by: Ru at November 24, 2004 04:44 AMPodcastin' be ag'in't the nature of the LAWD, heathern!
Ahem.
As for evolution, I think it's something people snap out of or don't snap out of. It's not an argument that can be argued rationally with them - people with a mind for scientific study argue in favor of evolution on an axis of rational examination of available evidence open to the adjustment of theory where evidence warrants it, whereas creationists argue on an axis of blind acceptance in which perceived evidence counter to their main dogma is dangerous and shouldn't just be denied, it should be actively avoided.
It's like trying to argue reproductive rights with a pro-lifer who sees their position as being somewhere in a spectrum of "morality" rather than a spectrum of positions on freedom or liberties. The arguments of either side, and the counter-arguments of the other, are completely different conversations not just different sides of the same coin. This makes it, in my opinion, damned near impossible to change someone's mind by talking to them. Their thought processes themselves and their whole path to the argument in the first place have to change for them to change their position.
Posted by: Robust McManlyPants at December 1, 2004 11:28 AM-podcasting spam deleted-
Just so it's clear that Monsieur McManlyPants wasn't stricken with Tourette's.
Posted by: apostropher at December 1, 2004 04:45 PMI find this religious fanaticism in the world's only superpower very, very disturbing. I feel sorry for all you rational Americans that have to share a country with these double-thinking, crazed zealots.