U.S. Lags World in Grasp of Genetics and Acceptance of Evolution

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A comparison of peoples' views in 34 countries finds that the United States ranks near the bottom when it comes to public acceptance of evolution. Only Turkey ranked lower.

Among the factors contributing to America's low score are poor understanding of biology, especially genetics, the politicization of science and the literal interpretation of the Bible by a small but vocal group of American Christians, the researchers say.

“American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close,” said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University.

The researchers combined data from public surveys on evolution collected from 32 European countries, the United States and Japan between 1985 and 2005. Adults in each country were asked whether they thought the statement “Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals,” was true, false, or if they were unsure.

The study found that over the past 20 years:

* The percentage of U.S. adults who accept evolution declined from 45 to 40 percent.

* The percentage overtly rejecting evolution declined from 48 to 39 percent, however.

* And the percentage of adults who were unsure increased, from 7 to 21 percent.

Of the other countries surveyed, only Turkey ranked lower, with about 25 percent of the population accepting evolution and 75 percent rejecting it. In Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France, 80 percent or more of adults accepted evolution; in Japan, 78 percent of adults did.

The findings are detailed in the Aug. 11 issue of the journal Science.

Religion belief and evolution

The researchers also compared 10 independent variables—including religious belief, political ideology and understanding of concepts from genetics, or “genetic literacy”—between adults in America and nine European countries to determine whether these factors could predict attitudes toward evolution.

The analysis found that Americans with fundamentalist religious beliefs—defined as belief in substantial divine control and frequent prayer—were more likely to reject evolution than Europeans with similar beliefs. The researchers attribute the discrepancy to differences in how American Christian fundamentalist and other forms of Christianity interpret the Bible.

While American fundamentalists tend to interpret the Bible literally and to view Genesis as a true and accurate account of creation, mainstream Protestants in both the United States and Europe instead treat Genesis as metaphorical, the researchers say.

“Whether it’s the Bible or the Koran, there are some people who think it’s everything you need to know,” Miller said. “Other people say these are very interesting metaphorical stories in that they give us guidance, but they’re not science books.”

This latter view is also shared by the Catholic Church.

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060810_evo_rank.html

[Fuzzness 2]

wow big surprise there

[incanada1234 0]

A comparison of peoples' views in 34 countries finds that the United States ranks near the bottom when it comes to public acceptance of evolution.

Good. I like to hear that.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Only Turkey ranked lower.

Woot! Screw you Turkey!!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Yeah, no ones a bigger bunch of turkeys than we are!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

No surprise - which I imagine has nothing at all to do with the prevalence of certain aggressively political religious types and the refusal (despite this being a country of many faiths and beliefs) to separate church from state.

GWB pissed away the US' chance to be a world leader in gene therapy technologies by restricting stem cell research. Great for short sighted politicians looking for brownie points with certain segments of the electorate, a big "F-Off" to the scientific community (which will continue the research in Europe) and the people suffering from degenerative, currently incurable diseases.

[incanada1234 0]

Only Turkey ranked lower.

Woot! Screw you Turkey!!

I love the thought of you saying "woot!" in real life.

[chri'stina 190]

No surprise - which I imagine has nothing at all to do with the prevalence of certain aggressively political religious types and the refusal (despite this being a country of many faiths and beliefs) to separate church from state.

....

Honestly if someone believes something, no matter how much church and state completely separate, they will still believe it. It's kind of like in the thread about the Buddhist statues getting rebuilt. One view that said they shouldn't be rebuilt so that they aren't worshipped, the other saying it shouldn't matter if they are there or not, it shouldn't affect beliefs of people just because it's there. Same with this issue. Even if everyone around me believes in evolution as the only explanation of the origin of this planet, does not mean I will suddenly change my beliefs because of that.

[rclouse 0]

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

No surprise - which I imagine has nothing at all to do with the prevalence of certain aggressively political religious types and the refusal (despite this being a country of many faiths and beliefs) to separate church from state.

....

Honestly if someone believes something, no matter how much church and state completely separate, they will still believe it. It's kind of like in the thread about the Buddhist statues getting rebuilt. One view that said they shouldn't be rebuilt so that they aren't worshipped, the other saying it shouldn't matter if they are there or not, it shouldn't affect beliefs of people just because it's there. Same with this issue. Even if everyone around me believes in evolution as the only explanation of the origin of this planet, does not mean I will suddenly change my beliefs because of that.

Having beliefs is fine - my issue with creationism as it has been packaged and sold in its current incarnation is that it uses science against the spirit of the scientific method for political purposes - science doesn't pretend to be absolute value system, evolution is currently the best theory that fits the available empirical evidence - clearly its not perfect, but I

Of course I find it very difficult to believe that there are people who really think that the earth was created in 6 solar days and materialised fully formed and populated in a spontaneous puff of logic. The issue there is whether or not you regard God to "working to a very specific pattern based on real, observable physical laws" or as some sort of Wizard.

I also see creationism to be at odds with the wider acceptance of science in daily life. The vast majority of people for instance, rely on man-made drugs to cure all sorts of conditions and diseases. Makes you wonder why people bother with them at all - rather than relying entirely on their faith in god to cure them.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

you shoulda used that one yesterday in the Governor of Bamiyan province in Afghanistan wants to put back together Buddha statues blown up by Taleban thread

[chri'stina 190]

No surprise - which I imagine has nothing at all to do with the prevalence of certain aggressively political religious types and the refusal (despite this being a country of many faiths and beliefs) to separate church from state.

....

Honestly if someone believes something, no matter how much church and state completely separate, they will still believe it. It's kind of like in the thread about the Buddhist statues getting rebuilt. One view that said they shouldn't be rebuilt so that they aren't worshipped, the other saying it shouldn't matter if they are there or not, it shouldn't affect beliefs of people just because it's there. Same with this issue. Even if everyone around me believes in evolution as the only explanation of the origin of this planet, does not mean I will suddenly change my beliefs because of that.

Having beliefs is fine - my issue with creationism as it has been packaged and sold in its current incarnation is that it uses science against the spirit of the scientific method for political purposes - science doesn't pretend to be absolute value system, evolution is currently the best theory that fits the available empirical evidence - clearly its not perfect, but I

Of course I find it very difficult to believe that there are people who really think that the earth was created in 6 solar days and materialised fully formed and populated in a spontaneous puff of logic. The issue there is whether or not you regard God to "working to a very specific pattern based on real, observable physical laws" or as some sort of Wizard.

I also see creationism to be at odds with the wider acceptance of science in daily life. The vast majority of people for instance, rely on man-made drugs to cure all sorts of conditions and diseases. Makes you wonder why people bother with them at all - rather than relying entirely on their faith in god to cure them.

I also find a lot of things difficult to believe.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Of course I find it very difficult to believe that there are people who really think that the earth was created in 6 solar days and materialised fully formed and populated in a spontaneous puff of logic. The issue there is whether or not you regard God to "working to a very specific pattern based on real, observable physical laws" or as some sort of Wizard.

I also see creationism to be at odds with the wider acceptance of science in daily life. The vast majority of people for instance, rely on man-made drugs to cure all sorts of conditions and diseases. Makes you wonder why people bother with them at all - rather than relying entirely on their faith in god to cure them.

Well said.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

No surprise - which I imagine has nothing at all to do with the prevalence of certain aggressively political religious types and the refusal (despite this being a country of many faiths and beliefs) to separate church from state.

....

Honestly if someone believes something, no matter how much church and state completely separate, they will still believe it. It's kind of like in the thread about the Buddhist statues getting rebuilt. One view that said they shouldn't be rebuilt so that they aren't worshipped, the other saying it shouldn't matter if they are there or not, it shouldn't affect beliefs of people just because it's there. Same with this issue. Even if everyone around me believes in evolution as the only explanation of the origin of this planet, does not mean I will suddenly change my beliefs because of that.

Having beliefs is fine - my issue with creationism as it has been packaged and sold in its current incarnation is that it uses science against the spirit of the scientific method for political purposes - science doesn't pretend to be absolute value system, evolution is currently the best theory that fits the available empirical evidence - clearly its not perfect, but I

Of course I find it very difficult to believe that there are people who really think that the earth was created in 6 solar days and materialised fully formed and populated in a spontaneous puff of logic. The issue there is whether or not you regard God to "working to a very specific pattern based on real, observable physical laws" or as some sort of Wizard.

I also see creationism to be at odds with the wider acceptance of science in daily life. The vast majority of people for instance, rely on man-made drugs to cure all sorts of conditions and diseases. Makes you wonder why people bother with them at all - rather than relying entirely on their faith in god to cure them.

anyone got the phone number or email for Tomás de Torquemada? i think erekose needs a visit by him

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

No surprise - which I imagine has nothing at all to do with the prevalence of certain aggressively political religious types and the refusal (despite this being a country of many faiths and beliefs) to separate church from state.

....

Honestly if someone believes something, no matter how much church and state completely separate, they will still believe it. It's kind of like in the thread about the Buddhist statues getting rebuilt. One view that said they shouldn't be rebuilt so that they aren't worshipped, the other saying it shouldn't matter if they are there or not, it shouldn't affect beliefs of people just because it's there. Same with this issue. Even if everyone around me believes in evolution as the only explanation of the origin of this planet, does not mean I will suddenly change my beliefs because of that.

Having beliefs is fine - my issue with creationism as it has been packaged and sold in its current incarnation is that it uses science against the spirit of the scientific method for political purposes - science doesn't pretend to be absolute value system, evolution is currently the best theory that fits the available empirical evidence - clearly its not perfect, but I

Of course I find it very difficult to believe that there are people who really think that the earth was created in 6 solar days and materialised fully formed and populated in a spontaneous puff of logic. The issue there is whether or not you regard God to "working to a very specific pattern based on real, observable physical laws" or as some sort of Wizard.

I also see creationism to be at odds with the wider acceptance of science in daily life. The vast majority of people for instance, rely on man-made drugs to cure all sorts of conditions and diseases. Makes you wonder why people bother with them at all - rather than relying entirely on their faith in god to cure them.

anyone got the phone number or email for Tomás de Torquemada? i think erekose needs a visit by him

Contrary to popular belief the Spanish Inquisition was itself a bit of a myth.