Re: David Livingstone's take on geology and creation

From: jdac (jdac@alphalink.com.au)
Date: Thu Jan 30 2003 - 18:22:34 EST

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    Don't to mention the popularity of lunar conspiracy theories and alien abductions....

    However, it is important not to project the situation in 20th/21st century America onto 19th century Britain.
    Comparisons tend to do so, when it is often the contrast that is important. Science was immensely popular in 19th
    century Britain, scientific literancy was probably higher than in the US at present.

    Jon

    George Murphy wrote:

    > Glenn Morton wrote:
    > >
    > > Michael wrote:
    > > >Glenn always remeber that YECs make more noise than others and are
    > > noticeable because of their absurdity so we always think there are more than
    > > there are.
    > > >Even Mortenson agrees with me that YEC were a minority in the early 19Cent
    > > and declined by 1855.
    > >
    > > I have absolutely no doubt that the visible publishing people were not YEC.
    > > Indeed, I would go so far as to say that it was rare for a YEC to get
    > > published unless he published it. But like the church today, most clergyin
    > > the US aren't YEC, yet a large chunk of their parishoners are. Otherwise
    > > how does one explain the polls in the US where nearly 50% of the people
    > > think man was created in his present form within the past 10,000 years? .....................................
    > Glenn -
    > You're right about popular American notions concerning the dating of human
    > origins. I think it's worth noting though that that's not just a religious view. It
    > should be seen as part of the general climate of scientific illiteracy - as shown, e.g.
    > in a recent NSF study. E.g., only a bit more than half (54%) of Americans know that the
    > earth goes around the sun once a year & fewer than that (48%) know that humans &
    > dinosaurs weren't contemporaries (which of course is closely related to your point).
    > Significant numbers believe in astrology & think that genes are found only in
    > genetically modified organisms.
    > Shalom,
    > George
    > --
    > George L. Murphy
    > gmurphy@raex.com
    > http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

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