46% of Americans believe human beings were created in the past 10,000 years.

[Chops McGandhi]

What was the actual wording on the poll? I think that coupling religion and evolutionary thought can sometimes lead to a notion that humans evolved from apes but God snapped his fingers at some point in the process and imbued them with a soul, thus making them human. So you can believe that God created humans 10,000 years ago while simultaneously believing in evolution. I think this is the version of evolution that the Pope endorsed a few years back. I don't personally agree with it, but it's certainly not as bad as denying evolution exists.

That's part of the idea that I was trying to get at earlier!

 

[akahoovy]

I agree that people probably partition their minds and lives into parts that they apply their reasoning skills to. I imagine most religious families are close and you need to go with the flow to get along.

At some point in time I started thought about what I was reading in my biology and history books at school and realized that the basic beliefs that I was supposed to have (we weren't very good Catholics) didn't coincide well. It was kind of like finding out Santa Clause wasn't real. However, I mostly just keep my thoughts to myself, I don't rail on anyone for their beliefs. If someone can work professionally with me and I don't have to hear, "The Lord has made this possible," all the time, I can handle someone being religious just fine.

 

[Anarchist420]

I personally don't think pure homo sapiens sapiens exists. I do think that the out of subsaharan Africa theory is wrong because there is no way that every human alive today descends from some subsaharan woman (i.e., mitochondrial eve). The genotypical testosterone levels of her hypothetical female descendants would've had to have been lower than hers in order for whites and Asians to come into existence.

I think that most of the world population has subsaharan ancestry, but not everyone does.

 

[Gibsons]

The genotypical testosterone levels of her hypothetical female descendants would've had to have been lower than hers in order for whites and Asians to come into existence.

wat?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

wat?

Ignore him, he just discovered science was a thing and he's trying his hand at it.

 

[reallyscrued]

Maybe you should make a stand and stop using things based on that science and maths garbage?

You could start with the internet.

Post was a joke dude.

 

[blankslate]

No fucking way, people can't be that retarded.

In the Uk it's 12% which I still think is high.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...ey-creationism

the U.K. kicked out all of their puritans soon after Columbus sailed West?
The decrepit state of U.S. public schools probably has something to do with it.

 

[WelshBloke]

Post was a joke dude.

You've read his other posts?

 

[totalnoob]

If anyone is interested, the hardcover editions of a few evolution books are 60% off on Amazon.
Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne: http://www.amazon.com/Why-Evolution-...ref=pd_sim_b_6
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greatest-S...mm_hrd_title_0


I recommend Coyne's book, but the one by Dawkins is good too.

 

[WelshBloke]

If anyone is interested, the hardcover editions of a few evolution books are 60% off on Amazon.
Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne: http://www.amazon.com/Why-Evolution-...ref=pd_sim_b_6
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greatest-S...mm_hrd_title_0


I recommend Coyne's book, but the one by Dawkins is good too.

Preaching to the converted there p) people who don't believe in evolution already have the one book they need.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Any how many of them are conservatives? This should tell you who the idiots are in the country.

I'm conservative and don't believe in magical sky fairies who keep a list of who is naughty and who is nice in order to grant them admission to their amusement park in the clouds when they croak. I've often said that I hope and wish it is true, but I just can't believe it without more evidence.

Back to the point of this post, I think those of us here need to realize something very important that I've come to understand over the past few years. Most of us are out of touch with how ignorant the average person in the US is. Seriously -- most of us were science/engineering majors and that group is generally considered among the most intelligent on average. For those of us who went to public high school, we pretty much lose contact with "normal" people once we get to college and we're surrounded by our own like-minded people, so we're shocked to learn what huge portions of the population really think.

 

[Ausm]

wat?

His posts best be ignored.

 

[bico]

well, it depends what you define by 'human being'

 

[actuarial]

What was the actual wording on the poll? I think that coupling religion and evolutionary thought can sometimes lead to a notion that humans evolved from apes but God snapped his fingers at some point in the process and imbued them with a soul, thus making them human. So you can believe that God created humans 10,000 years ago while simultaneously believing in evolution. I think this is the version of evolution that the Pope endorsed a few years back. I don't personally agree with it, but it's certainly not as bad as denying evolution exists.

The wording was posted above, but it allowed three options:
1) Humans beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, but God guided this process
2) Humans beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, but God had no part in this process
3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time in the last 10,000 years or so

I think 1) would accurately capture the people you're talking about, and the 46% was 3) alone. Only 15% chose 2).

 

[purbeast0]

im sure this has already been said, but...

Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted May 10-13, 2012, with a random sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

so 465 adults out of all americans believe this. that is just a tad under 46%.

 

[frostedflakes]

Read up on sample sizes, confidence intervals, etc. It's a perfectly reasonable sample size for a population of ~300 million assuming that your sampling is truly random. Public opinion polls like this usually have a 95% confidence interval of +/- a couple percent I think, which is accurate enough for what they're doing.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Read up on sample sizes, confidence intervals, etc. It's a perfectly reasonable sample size for a population of ~300 million assuming that your sampling is truly random. Public opinion polls like this usually have a 95% confidence interval of +/- a couple percent I think, which is accurate enough for what they're doing.

No, no, no, the polling center just happened to call the only 465 adults in America who believe this. If they had dialed a completely different set of phone numbers, you'd see that percentage squarely at zero.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

The wording was posted above, but it allowed three options:
1) Humans beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, but God guided this process
2) Humans beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, but God had no part in this process
3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time in the last 10,000 years or so

I think 1) would accurately capture the people you're talking about, and the 46% was 3) alone. Only 15% chose 2).

Well that's a shame. People are stupid.

 

[Jeff7]

No, no, no, the polling center just happened to call the only 465 adults in America who believe this. If they had dialed a completely different set of phone numbers, you'd see that percentage squarely at zero.

God and Satan were both guiding selection of the numbers.

 

[polarmystery]

No, no, no, the polling center just happened to call the only 465 adults in America who believe this. If they had dialed a completely different set of phone numbers, you'd see that percentage squarely at zero.

False, not quite how probably works.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

False

 

[polarmystery]

(Didn't read your above posts...my bad)

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Back to the point of this post, I think those of us here need to realize something very important that I've come to understand over the past few years. Most of us are out of touch with how ignorant the average person in the US is.

This is an important point.

I've learned over the last decade of being a physical anthropologist that most people who don't accept evolution are simply parroting what they were told in church. This is generally not an important issue to them; it takes a back seat to other topics like same-sex marriage and abortion. Most people I've met who initially espouse a young earth creationist view are quick to mostly abandon that if they're willing to listen and presented with facts in a respectful, non-confrontational view. That is, their belief that the earth is 4,600 years old is usually not strongly held.

If you want to convince someone that the earth is billions of years old, that evolution is real, and that we are still evolving, you have to do a number of things. First, you have to divorce evolution from other 'progressive' social viewpoints. Second, you have to illustrate how evolution is no more an affront to their faith than is heliocentrism. Third, you have to illustrate that evolution is useful and economically relevant. Fourth, and most importantly, you must refrain from attacking their other religiously-motivated views.

 

[Aikouka]

If anyone is interested, the hardcover editions of a few evolution books are 60% off on Amazon.
Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne: http://www.amazon.com/Why-Evolution-...ref=pd_sim_b_6
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greatest-S...mm_hrd_title_0


I recommend Coyne's book, but the one by Dawkins is good too.

It seems to me that the Coyne book, or at least its Amazon page, is part of the problem. Look at this phrase used on its page:

Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact

This reminds me all too much of the South Korean evolution thread.

 

[jhansman]

What, only 46%? I thought ignorance in the U.S. was spreading much faster than this. Badly disappointed.