Evolution

[64K]

These figures really surprised me. I had no idea so many fellow Americans don't believe in evolution. Taken from the link below.......

"A 2013 Pew Research survey found that 33 percent of all American adults believe that "humans existed in present form since [the] beginning." Among Catholics, the percentages are slightly lower; 31 percent of Hispanic Catholics deny evolution, as do 26 percent of white Catholics. (Among white evangelical protestants, the number is a whopping 64 percent.)"

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/10/pope-reminds-catholics-evolution-big-bang-are-true/

 

[qubit]

Yes, it's incredible how many fundamentalist creationists there are out there when there's not a shred of evidence to support their beliefs and so much evidence proving them wrong. Cognitive dissonance is strong there.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

 

[SaltyFish]

In other news, water is wet.

Yeah... that's nothing new. The USA has been called "Jesusland" for good reason. I would be more curious to know how those numbers compare to among other strongly religious countries as well as other First World / quasi-First World countries.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Pops head in door, sees such a controversial subject , and slowly backs out again.

 

[Sasqui]

Among Catholics, the percentages are slightly lower;

There has to be more behind that part of the data.

 

[Tatty_Two]

In context...... less than 2000 Americans were surveyed from what I can see, hardly a representative sample of a population of around 317 million, interesting nonetheless.

 

[natr0n]

This is gonna turn into shit storm quick guaranteed !!!

 

[neatfeatguy]

In context...... less than 2000 Americans were surveyed from what I can see, hardly a representative sample of a population of around 317 million, interesting nonetheless.

+1

While mildly interesting....this survey is like pretty much all other surveys out there.

I see lots of surveys where they sample a couple hundred/thousand people and say "A survey asking if people {insert stupid survey subject} and found out that X% of ALL {insert group/country name} belive this to be true." Once you read the details you find out they asked a very small handful of people and then post claims that their survey represents ALL people in that group/country.

Pfff...what a joke.

 

[64K]

This is gonna turn into shit storm quick guaranteed !!!

I thought we could handle this maturely in a Science forum but maybe you're right. I'm going to ask a mod to lock it or delete it.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I have changed the title, you will see why, the survey has nothing to do with Religon, the findings make religous comparisions but the survey is about Evolution from what I read. We will see how it pans.

In a community that can throw a shitstorm over the colour of a graphics card PCB, we should arguably close everything BEFORE any problem arises! I suppose we wouldnt need Moderators then though

 

[rtwjunkie]

OK, I will pop back in the room briefly, because the Pope today espoused the idea that religion and evolution could co-exist, which goes into line with the figure @64K mentioned above that very few Catholics believe purely in Creationism.

http://www.newsday.com/news/world/pope-francis-says-evolution-is-real-and-god-is-no-wizard-1.9558258

 

[RCoon]

OK, I will pop back in the room briefly, because the Pope today espoused the idea that religion and evolution could co-exist, which goes into line with the figure @64K mentioned above that very few Catholics believe purely in Creationism.

http://www.newsday.com/news/world/pope-francis-says-evolution-is-real-and-god-is-no-wizard-1.9558258

From a purely neutral standpoint, and having avidly studied evolution and religion for about 11 years, I don't think it would be implausible for religious people to consider the fact that perhaps in the event he exists, God could have used evolution to create life.

That is a suggestive theory, and not my or anyone else's particular standpoint.

 

[64K]

For me I believe both in a Creator and evolution. They are not mutually exclusive to me. I believe the Big Bang was caused by a Creator. I can't prove it or disprove it though. Obviously Evolution did take place. I'm fine with anyone that believes humans were a special creation though. Live and let live. It just surprised me that so many Americans reject evolution period.

 

[ne6togadno]

In context...... less than 2000 Americans were surveyed from what I can see, hardly a representative sample of a population of around 317 million, interesting nonetheless.

+1

While mildly interesting....this survey is like pretty much all other surveys out there.

I see lots of surveys where they sample a couple hundred/thousand people and say "A survey asking if people {insert stupid survey subject} and found out that X% of ALL {insert group/country name} belive this to be true." Once you read the details you find out they asked a very small handful of people and then post claims that their survey represents ALL people in that group/country.

Pfff...what a joke.

it doesnt matter number of people surveyed but the way they have been selceted.
if methodolgy for randomisation of the survied is followed strictly then even 2000 can be representative sample for 317 mil

For me I believe both in a Creator and evolution. They are not mutually exclusive to me. I believe the Big Bang was caused by a Creator. I can't prove it or disprove it though. Obviously Evolution did take place. I'm fine with anyone that believes humans were a special creation though. Live and let live. It just surprised me that so many Americans reject evolution period.

i also think the trueth is somewhere here. from one side we have human embrion for 9 months repeating whole evolution from amphibians to primats (evolution) on the other side since first trasition from apes to humans we havent seen even one monkey to become man and this is where evolution "fails". i think evolution got some "kickstart" so that apes become homo sapience. was this "help" from creator or ETI or somthing else for now noone can say for sure.

 

[Tatty_Two]

it doesnt matter number of people surveyed but the way they have been selceted.
if methodolgy for randomisation of the survied is followed strictly then even 2000 can be representative sample for 317 mil

I agree, Yes they CAN be but rarely are, for example if your going to quote findings of a survey linked to various Religons/groups, the only way it really works fairly and in a representative way is if you survey equal numbers of each religious group, if you don't (because you don't actually have to) then you just serve to further dilute the integrity of the survey...... that was not the case here, otherwise, in the extreme as an example you can inadvertantly include only one member of a Religion and you have a 100% consensus.

In my current role my organisation does a huge amount of survey work around evaluations and outcomes and as a rule will not commit to strategic change unless the response rate is above 30% as a truly representative sample, I am not suggesting thats the right way to go but lets just say "representative" can be subjective.

 

[AphexDreamer]

Believe what you will, we are all in a computer generated simulation anyway.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

"A 2013 Pew Research survey found that 33 percent of all American adults believe that "humans existed in present form since [the] beginning." Among Catholics, the percentages are slightly lower; 31 percent of Hispanic Catholics deny evolution, as do 26 percent of white Catholics. (Among white evangelical protestants, the number is a whopping 64 percent.)"

From this thread comes a CNN Opinion piece that explains why this is: Evangelicals are far more likely to believe in Creationism than Catholics because Catholicism is rooted in older belief. Catholics aren't supposed to invent something new (like Creationism) to explain evolution; they are to embrace it as something the big man intended or deny it outright. To deny it is to disown everything biological research has brought us which is foolhardy. Pope Francis made the right call. I hope the Evangelicals see the wisdom behind his reasoning.

I do enjoy me some Richard Dawkins videos. The dissection of a giraffe's neck is particularly interesting.

 

[twilyth]

Here is a pretty extensive index of creationist claims and arguments - http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html

It hasn't been updated in several years but there's a lot of good information there if you ever want the scientific facts against any given creationist claim. Skip to the biology section to get a flavor for what's covered.

 

[the54thvoid]

I like the episode of Mythbusters where Adam Savage says towards the end of the show:

"And why haven't we tested the myth of evolution? Because it's not a myth!"

I loved him even more after that. To be honest, it's not worth talking about evolution. If you don't believe it, it's more than likely a faith issue and you can't ague with a faith. I'm an atheist myself but I've got no beef with the 'open' minded religious people that can weave science into their faith. Hell, even the Vatican has astrophysicists.

 

[BiggieShady]

Coincidentally ... http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/28/pope-francis-evolution-big-bang/18053509/


... I guess pope follows TPU

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I loved him even more after that. To be honest, it's not worth talking about evolution. If you don't believe it, it's more than likely a faith issue and you can't ague with a faith. I'm an atheist myself but I've got no beef with the 'open' minded religious people that can weave science into their faith. Hell, even the Vatican has astrophysicists.

What's to believe about evolution? It's demonstrated everywhere we look in nature. Dawkins paraphrased this Einstein quote in applying it to biological evolution:

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong. --Albert Einstein

There only needs to be one, just one anomaly to throw the theory out the window. It has been over 100 years and not one has been found despite looking, hard. Only more evidence supporting the theory was uncovered.