-BBC.
Posted on 01/26/2006 9:35:25 AM PST by SirLinksalot
BBC: Most Brits Don’t Believe in Evolution
Scientists may sneer at those who question the theory of evolution but a new survey says that most people in the United Kingdom do not accept it as valid.
According to BBC, their survey of 2000 participants in a program "Horizon: A War on Science” showed that "more than half the British population does not accept the theory of evolution.”
The program’s editor Andrew Cohen told Britain’s The Register: "I think that this poll represents our first introduction to the British public's views on this issue. Most people would have expected the public to go for evolution theory, but it seems there are lots of people who appear to believe in an alternative theory for life's origins."
According to The Register, the survey found that while 48 per cent of people opted for evolution as that which "best described their view of the origin and development of life", a majority had either other opinions or none at all with 22 per cent opting for creationism and 17 percent for intelligent design.
Asked which of the three theories should be included in school science lessons, 44 per cent said creationism should be on the agenda, 41 per cent voted for intelligent design, while 69 per cent backed evolution.
The Register notes that survey "participants over 55 were more likely to choose evolution over other groups, while those under 25 were most likely to opt for intelligent design."
This prompted the paper to comment that older people have either come to the "correct conclusion" over time, or are possibly "too old to accept the exciting and irrefutable truth of intelligent design."
(sarcasm off)
It's not obvisous to me if the editor of the TV program is a believer in evolution or not.In any case, it's unfortunate that he tags evolution as an theory of "life's origins".
I find evolution to take more faith than I can muster.
And as to the separate issue of the origin of life, a closed physical system seems utterly incapable of producing life from nothing. IMO, you have to introduce something from outside to account for it.
is this really a story? I think not. Who cares???? They can believe what they want.
I don't blame 'em. I mean, I can understand perfectly if the British look around at their fellow citizenry and think "This lot's the result of millions of years of evolution? Pull the other one, mate."
Well, from everyday observations it is obvious that many have not evolved.
surprising, condidering that Great Britain is not what you would call a Christian nation any more (very few even attend church). Guess, that supports what we've been saying about the merits of the "facts".
It takes a lot of "education" to swallow evolution in toto. I myself find descent wholly believable in light of our understanding of DNA, but the idea of "natural selection" being responsible for all changes in species is absurd without much more in the way of proof.
I don't know that science has an explanation for how life can arise from dead matter.
Wonder how old the oldest participants were? The 55 group sounds like a bunch of old hippies.
Most Brits don't believe in dental care either.
I'm still waiting for the Black churches to way in on this controversy with a comment of some sort . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . .
Notice the tell-tale lack of the words "random sample" in reference to the "poll."
I'll leave it to you guys to deconstruct the rest of this tripe...
Do Muslims believe in evolution?
Interesting. Note that younguns are less likely to believe in the TOE.
Maybe if someone gets the primary information rather than a spun piece of hearsay there might be something worth discussing.
Speaking anecdotally, I've found it rare to come across anyone who doubts evolution in the UK. And most UK citizens won't even have heard of the words "intelligent design" in this context; except for the better informed who read broadsheet news articles about the US controversy.
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