Friday, September 02, 2005

New Survey on Creationism vs. Evolution

In a recent Pew Research Center Poll 42% of Americans stated that they held strict creationist views while 48% said they believe that humans had evolved over time. Of the 48% that supported evolution 26% said that evolution was the result of natural selection while 18% felt that evolution had been guided by a supreme being. Fully 64% felt that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in school.

A spokesperson for the National Center for Science Education questioned whether the poll was an endorsement of the teaching of creationism as much as a endorsement of fairness in American culture. That's sort of the dumbest observation I've seen in a while. The NCSE spokesperson is confusing "what" and "why." What 64% of the polled support is the teaching of creationism alongside evolution; the tradition of fair play in American culture may be why they support it. Again we have an example of wishful thinking, "nah, this survey isn't as big a disaster as it appears, it really means something I can live with."

Well at least 48% of the country has accepted evolution. That's a step in the right direction. I wonder if there was a correlation with education in this survey? That would have been interesting to see I think.

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