Free Republic Poll on Evolution

Free Republic ^ | 22 September 2006 | Vanity

[PatrickHenry]

Free Republic is currently running a poll on this subject:

Do you think creationism or intelligent design should be taught in science classes in secondary public schools as a competing scientific theory to evolution?

You can find the poll at the bottom of your "self search" page, also titled "My Comments," where you go to look for posts you've received.

I don't know what effect -- if any -- the poll will have on the future of this website's science threads. But it's certainly worth while to know the general attitude of the people who frequent this website.

Science isn't a democracy, and the value of scientific theories isn't something that's voted upon. The outcome of this poll won't have any scientific importance. But the poll is important because this is a political website. How we decide to educate our children is a very important issue. It's also important whether the political parties decide to take a position on this. (I don't think they should, but it may be happening anyway.)

If you have an opinion on this subject, go ahead and vote.

[balrog666]

Pardon my French, but Whiskey Tango...?

Insanity is its own reward.

[PatrickHenry]

Latest Poll Results

A greater percentage of lurkers than registered freepers have answered "No" to the idea of including creationism in science class (currently 37.1% compared to 31.5%), but that's not surprising. We've always said that we post these science threads for the lurkers, to demonstrate that there are science-literate conservatives.

Those "No" figures are higher when you discard the "votes" of those who voted "Undecided" or "Pass." When you do that you get 35.5% for freepers and 39.5% for lurkers. For lurkers, the vote to put religion into science class is virtually 60% who say "Yes" and 40% who say "No."

The overall figure for all voters who expressed an opinion is currently 37.5% who say "No." Any way you look at it, the result is horrible -- it's bad for both religion and for science to jumble them together -- but it's far better than some of the creationists around here had been hoping for.

[andysandmikesmom]

No one is ever set up for anything, when its their own words that are being used.....once a poster makes a claim, and that claim is later brought up, its not a set up...someone says something, words have meanings, no set up is involved..

[grey_whiskers]

I'm sorry, we seem to be talking past each other.

Not my intent--my term "set up" was meant to describe what I inferred from my *mistaken* impression--that of holding all members of a group responsible for any statements by a member of the group, even those they hadn't heard of.

Of course, what you said--holding people responsible for their own words, and perhaps some of their close allies responsible for "keeping an eye out" for them--is entirely reasonable.

My bad, my mistake--and I should have taken pains to make my objections less confusing!

Cheers!

[andysandmikesmom]

No problem...probably we were talking past each other...the weekend and all...

I think we are in agreement here...

[balrog666]

[PatrickHenry]

Latest Poll Results

Over 200 more votes have come in. Prior FR polls typically receive around 6,000 votes before they're ended. This one now has 4,963 votes, roughly 83% complete.

A greater percentage of lurkers than registered freepers have answered "No" to the idea of including creationism in science class (currently 37.7% compared to 31.5%), but that's not surprising. We've always said that we post these science threads for the lurkers, to demonstrate that there are science-literate conservatives.

Those "No" figures are higher when you discard the "votes" of those who voted "Undecided" or "Pass." When you do that you get 35.4% for freepers and 40.0% for lurkers.

The overall figure for all voters who expressed an opinion is currently 37.8% who say "No." Any way you look at it, the result is horrible -- it's bad for both religion and for science to jumble them together -- but it's far better than some of the creationists around here had been hoping for.

[atlaw]

Oh good grief. If you had read the conversation between FreedomProtector and me, you would have understood my post.

[atlaw]

Huh?

[Hacksaw]

The overall figure for all voters who expressed an opinion is currently 37.8% who say "No." Any way you look at it, the result is horrible -- it's bad for both religion and for science to jumble them together -- but it's far better than some of the creationists around here had been hoping for.

You're attempting to do what is known as "polishing a turd" - especially after repeatedly pinging all your buddies and only getting 37.8%.

Perhaps it is a referendum on the behaviour of the Darwinists here and their attitudes toward others (hijacking a prayer thread didn't help).

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

Steaming placemarker

[PatrickHenry]

Latest Poll Results

Almost 200 more votes are in. Now the vote total is 5,150 out of what usually is 6,000 or so for these polls. The difference between freepers and lurkers is interesting:

The percentage of those voting "Yes" (to put creationism in science class) among lurkers (55.6%) seems almost the same as for freepers (57.1%). But there's a difference. One consistent feature of this poll is that freepers cast twice as many votes for "Undecided" or "Pass" (10.9%) than do lurkers (5.4%). That difference in decisiveness shows up mostly in the "No" vote for each group. The percentage of freepers voting "No" looks like 32.0%, and the percentage for lurkers looks like 38.8%.

In the early days of this poll the lurker' votes were going in the opposite direction, and were greatly increasing the "Yes" vote percentage. For that reason I ignored the lurkers' votes for the first several days. But in recent days, what may have been freeping in one direction now seems to be going in the opposite direction. The freeping factor -- if it ever existed -- is canceling itself out as the votes keep piling up. At this late stage of the poll, looking at the composite vote (both freepers and non-freepers) seems the way to go.

The important votes are from those who have expressed an opinion on the poll question, so I'm ignoring all votes for "undecided" or "pass." Those with an opinion have voted as follows:

Yes (put creationism in science class) 2,901 votes
No (keep creationism out of science class) 1,825 votes
Total votes (excluding "undecided" or "pass") 4,726

Percentage voting "No" is 38.6%

Among freepers alone, that figure is 35.9%
Among lurkers alone, that figure is 41.1%

[grey_whiskers]

That is true - that's why I keep using the word consilience over and over again here; consilience between separate lines of data is essential when looking at information concerning the distant past, and why any science theory can only be considered as good as the consistency of its models and the veracity of its predictions.

Great post.

Sorry for missing it the first time around.

Shall we shake hands and have a virtual beer on the strength of it?

...and believe me when I say, "Cheers!"

[grey_whiskers]

Oh good grief. If you had read the conversation between FreedomProtector and me, you would have understood my post.

I *think* the post of mine you are objecting to was in response to your #1362 this thread.

When the threads get too long, it gets hard to tell which post in response to what part of which sub-thread etc.

I know it is easy to lose patience with one's adversaries on some of these threads; it just seemed to me that you had crossed the line into *goading* him, in your impatience...but I wasn't sure.

No biggie by me; I'm willing to go with the take that *I* jupmed the gun on this one.

Cheers!

[Quark2005]

Shall we shake hands and have a virtual beer on the strength of it?

Absolutely - much appreciated - good to have a polite discussion around here once in a while.

[atlaw]

Not a problem. In 1,500 post threads, the (um) thread can get lost.

[PatrickHenry]

Latest Poll Results

Almost 300 more votes are in. Now the vote total is 5,441 out of what usually is 6,000 or so for these polls.

The important votes are from those who have expressed an opinion on the poll question, so I'm ignoring all votes for "undecided" or "pass." Those with an opinion have voted as follows:

Yes (put creationism in science class) 3,063 votes
No (keep creationism out of science class) 1,935 votes
Total votes (excluding "undecided" or "pass") 4,998

Percentage voting "No" is 38.7%

Among freepers alone, that figure is 35.9%
Among lurkers alone, that figure is 41.2%

[PatrickHenry]

A new poll appears on my "My Comments" page, so what I just posted is the final result.

[PatrickHenry]

Free Republic Opinion Poll: Do you think creationism or intelligent design should be taught in science classes in secondary public schools as a competing scientific theory to evolution?

Composite Opinion
Yes	56.3%		3,063
No	35.6%		1,935
Undecided	4.3%		234
Pass	3.8%		209
	100.0%		5,441
Member Opinion
Yes	57.1%		1,503
No	32.0%		842
Undecided	5.9%		155
Pass	5.0%		132
	100.0%		2,632
Non-Member Opinion
Yes	55.5%		1,560
No	38.9%		1,093
Undecided	2.8%		79
Pass	2.7%		77
	99.9%		2,809

[ More Opinion Polls · Return to Forum ]

[RunningWolf]

Look PH, think maybe its time to end that poll? Or just how long are you going to keep re-polling, recounting, and re-jiggering it till you get the results you want?

Maybe its time for yet another tag-line change place-marker for you there. I will call it 'looks like Al Gore 2000'

Wolf