On Tue, 7 Sep 1999 08:26:29 -0700 (MST), Hapi Daiz wrote:
>SJ>The main point is that 90% of the public continue to reject
>>Darwinism and its materialistic-naturalistic philosophy, despite
>>decades of compulsory indoctrination in schools and the media. The
>>only reason the 10% of Darwinists have managed to stay in "power"
>>is because of the fragmentation of the 90% of theists along sectarian
>>lines (eg. "old-Earth", "young-Earth", "God-guided evolutionists") etc.
>>If the ID movement can weld these disparate groups into a coherent
>>whole, then it should be expected that ID will continue to grow in
>>power and influence.
HD>I've seen this reference to 90% before -- where does that figure come
>from? Who was polled? Who did the poll? In my experience, based on
>the people I know (even here in Arizona) that figure is pretty far-
>fetched.
[...]
Ask and ye shall receive! Here is a recent ABCNEWS article which repeats
the much-cited Gallup poll figures. Actually for the first time I have
realised it is not 90%, even though 10% do believe in evolution without
God's participation. The combined figure for those who believe that
God did participate was only 83% (44% + 39%), the 7% difference presumably
being "don't knows":
"In a November 1997 poll by the Gallup Organization that quizzed people
about their views on the origin of humans, 44 percent agreed with the
statement, "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at
one time within the last 10,000 years or so." "That's a lot of people,"
Bishop says. "That's not like it's some small minority position." Another 39
percent subscribed to a "theistic evolution" view, that humans did develop
over millions of years from lower life forms, but God guided the process.
Only 10 percent said they believe in evolution with no participation from
God. Seven percent had no opinion. The views have not changed much in
recent years. A 1982 Gallup poll, asking the same question, found a
virtually identical distribution of opinion."
Of course some of these 7% "don't knows" could still be theists because an
Old-Earth or Progressive Creationist might have trouble agreeing with
any of the alternatives. And some of the 10% attributed to non-theists
could be Deistic Evolutionists.
Steve
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http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/evolutionviews990816.html
Evolutionary Beliefs
Views in U.S. Much Different Than Elsewhere
Nearly half of American adults believe in a biblical interpretation of creation.
(Source: The Gallup Organization) (ABCNEWS.com)
By Kenneth Chang
ABCNEWS.com
The decision of the Kansas Board of Education to drop evolution as a
necessary topic in the state's science classes has raised loud protests from
scientists and science educators. But if the curriculum were put to a popular
vote, perhaps Darwin's ideas would be in danger of being dropped in some
places.
In views that diverge widely from those in other developed nations, about
45 percent of American adults take the Bible's story of creation literally.
Only about one in 10 subscribe to a purely scientific explanation of
evolution.
Scientists' Call to Action
Most Americans do not want creationism to replace evolution in schools.
(Source: The Gallup Organization) (ABCNEWS.com)
"This is a fertile soil for such controversies to continue to thrive," says George
Bishop, a University of Cincinnati political science professor who has
compared different nations' views on evolution. "It just doesn't go away."
The controversy has also spurred some to call for scientists to get more
involved in education issues.
"Creationists won in Kansas, and they are likely to win elsewhere, simply
because they care enough to get elected to school boards," said Fred
Spilhaus, executive director of the American Geophysical Union, in a
statement released last week. "Once again, those who value science and
support the teaching of evolution but were too busy to participate in local
politics lost, and science education will suffer as a result, as will science
itself."
Creation a Mainstream View
That could be an uphill battle.
In a November 1997 poll by the Gallup Organization that quizzed people
about their views on the origin of humans, 44 percent agreed with the
statement, "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at
one time within the last 10,000 years or so."
"That's a lot of people," Bishop says. "That's not like it's some small
minority position."
Another 39 percent subscribed to a "theistic evolution" view, that humans
did develop over millions of years from lower life forms, but God guided the
process. Only 10 percent said they believe in evolution with no participation
from God. Seven percent had no opinion.
The views have not changed much in recent years. A 1982 Gallup poll,
asking the same question, found a virtually identical distribution of opinion.
Among scientists, only 5 percent hold the literal Bible view, 40 percent
believe in theistic evolution and a majority, 55 percent, believe in evolution
without help from God.
More Likely to Read Bible Literally
Creation is not the only area where many Americans take the Bible at its
word.
In a Gallup poll last June, one-third of American adults surveyed agreed
that "The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for
word."
That was the 10th time since 1976 Gallup had asked this question, and the
percentage interpreting the Bible literally has fluctuated only slightly, between
between 32 and 40 percent.
A 1991 survey asking the exact same question in 17 countries found adults
elsewhere were much less likely to take the literal view.
In Great Britain, for instance, the percentage was 7 percent.
"You would think they [the United States and England] would not be very
different as nations," Bishop says. "And here, Americans are almost five times
as likely to take the Bible literally than people in England."
Germany, Norway, Russia and the Netherlands were also among the
nations where a smaller percentage of adults believed in taking the Bible
literally. "This situation in Kansas, it just wouldn't arise in Western Europe,"
Bishop says.
More Religious Freedom a Factor?
According to Bishop, religious freedom in the United States may be one
reason for people's more conservative religious views. "Think of it as a
market," he says. "You have many different denominations competing for
customers. Because of that competition, there's more active recruiting,
proselytizing and other forms of bringing people into their particular fold.
That's one notion why this society is more religious than most developed
nations."
Spilhaus said the American Geophysical Union was preparing "a call to
arms" to its members to get involved in local school boards. "Scientists would
be well-advised to run for school boards or, at the very least, to actively
support well-informed candidates," he says. "If scientists want to see good
science taught in the schools, they can't just participate as teachers. They
have to get out and get into the policy making aspect of it."
Spilhaus was dismayed that the Kansas science standards diluted not only
evolution but also left out any mention of the Earth's age. "Boy, if you start
talking about the age of the Earth, you're talking about going away from
something that science considers pretty solid ground," Spilhaus says. "There's
very little doubt in our minds that the Earth is 4Ç billion years old. There is no
credible evidence that supports a young Earth or that supports the so-called
creationist science."
But Spilhaus may not want to take a vote on that.
[...]
SUMMARY
In polls, nearly half of American adults say they believe in a biblical
interpretation of creation, and only one in 10 believes in a purely scientific
explanation of evolution.
[...]
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin
and development of human beings?
Humans have developed over millions of years from less advanced life, but
God guided this process.
Humans have developed over millions of years from less advanced life. God
had NO PART in this.
God created humans pretty much in their present form at one time within the
past 10,000 years or so.
No opinion.
"Americans are almost five times as likely to take the Bible literally than
people in England."
George Bishop, University of Cincinnati
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"I have come to the conclusion that Darwinism is not a testable scientific
theory, but a metaphysical research programme-a possible framework for
testable scientific theories." (Popper K.R., "Unended Quest: An Intellectual
Autobiography", [1974], Open Court: La Salle, Ill., Revised Edition, 1982,
p168)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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