Posted on 02/01/2009 5:11:28 PM PST by Baladas
Half of British adults do not believe in evolution, with at least 22% preferring the theories of creationism or intelligent design to explain how the world came about, according to a survey.
The poll found that 25% of Britons believe Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is "definitely true", with another quarter saying it is "probably true". Half of the 2,060 people questioned were either strongly opposed to the theory or confused about it.
The Rescuing Darwin survey, published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, found that around 10% of people chose young Earth creationism – the belief that God created the world some time in the last 10,000 years – over evolution.
About 12% preferred intelligent design, the idea that evolution alone is not enough to explain the structures of living organisms. The remainder were unsure, often mixing evolution, intelligent design and creationism together. The survey was conducted by the polling agency ComRes on behalf of the Theos thinktank.
A spokesman for Sense about Science, an independent charitable trust, said it was important for scientists and educators to disentangle religious belief from evidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
>>The poll found that 25% of Britons believe Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is “definitely true”, with another quarter saying it is “probably true”. Half of the 2,060 people questioned were either strongly opposed to the theory or confused about it.<<
That’s about the percent I would expect to even know Darwin had two main separate theories - common decent and natural selection. In fact, 25% might be optimistic.
The half that don’t believe...are likely the muslim half.
How anyone could look at whats become of British ( or American ) civilization and believe in the ascent of man ( or of species in general ) is beyond me. And apparently I am not alone.
If half do not believe in evolution, then another half either (1) Do not believe in evolution or ; (2) are unsure.
So why did this headline not read "Half of Britons are either unsure of or believe in evolution, survery finds".
"half do not believe in evolution" which means that "not believing in evolution" is what they are promoting. Anybody out there got a clue why newspapers are going under because of their propogandist methods? Anybody?
"it was important for scientists and educators to disentangle religious belief from evidence."
In other words, if they still believe in a "GOD", we have to encourage them to give up such nonsense and trust us.
It stands to reason.
Nearly half of any group will be below average.
Suck on that, Matt Damon and atheists -- McCain/Palin's loss must've been over something else.
Cheers!
Soon moslem students will probably not allow evolution to be taught, just as they do not allow the history of the Holocaust to be taught.
Oh, come on.
Hey Bill,
not a big fan of reason, are you?
That was meant for Coyoteman, a FR darwinist idiot, not you.
Of course nobody in England goes to church anymore, but they reject Darwin? Go figure...
Evolution as it has been taught in schools is false. One doesn’t even have to be religious to see that. Darwin was wrong on key measures. Natural selection and mutation can not alone account for what we see in nature. All one has to do is pick up any book on Darwinism and you find these fantastic tales ascribing causation as if some invisible hand is shaping an organism assuming that the same forces that shape an economy and a thunderstorm also shape the intricacies of the code of life. It is an elegant but flawed idea. There is indeed selection but it does not produce entirely new and novel organisms no more than an actor free economy produces new products. Products arise because intelligent beings design and create them and even though complex systems whether they be the dynamics inside of a star, a thunderstorm, or an economy that has people that design and produce products follow similar patterns confusing spontaneous systems with the intricate systems driven by human actors would be foolish.
They are similar because the same component processes hold whether we are taking about the snow and ice making up a snow bank on a mountain or a political campaign. However similar on a process level avalanches do not produce Presidents or toasters. That said it is not surprising people perceive flaws in the Atheist/Humanist version of evolution. I know this will alarm some who believe that such heresy when it comes to science is something so great that the end of this rather insignificant world (as they put it) with its insignificant people will follow if people do not accept their place alongside their chimp cousins. It doesn’t matter that this hysteria on their part is unfounded and also goes against the facts because humanity has progressed just fine and sometimes even better with out even knowing the details.
Wars have been fought, civilizations built and destroyed all without knowing the physics behind it. Much of modern science holds its creation to religious men and women of many stripes not just Christian and would probably never have progressed so far had there not been a desire to discover the order of nature as it relates to a supreme being or many supreme beings. Whether such a being or beings is fiction or not does not change the fact of its psychological power. Belief is powerful. Those who hold infantile bitterness because of bad experiences with fundamentalist religion often fail to be honest with themselves and others on the limits of their own knowledge and understanding. They often claim an absoluteness that is no different than the religions they hold disdain for. They no more than a common carpenter have based their every reaction on logic or analysis driven by flawless scientific method. They no matter how much disdain they hold humanity in are still governed by its inherent limits and flaws.
They are human and humans are a part of nature even though many of these same people seem confused on that point assigning that there is no God but simultaneously believing that some grand morality can be forged in accord to the “environment” or “nature” offering up that extinction is bad and the environment that has changed and cast countless creatures forever into the pit of history long before human beings came onto the scene can some how be protected and preserved and that humanity can be brought into harmony with it. Aside from the fact that much of what is preserved has been rendered functionally inert and impotent this is a basic misunderstanding of nature. It is changing and nothing mankind creates can be outside of it.
Right and wrong if there is no God to set the rules can only be defined by the whims and desires and fixations of human beings and this also includes the fixations of those who are scientists many which in today’s world are also bureaucrats.
Hey Prole,
Is that a picture of evolution-denying Muslims rioting in France?
Half of all Britons, including all the Muslims?
Hey Bill,
Don’t know about Darwinism, but I’m pretty sure the world is older than 6,500 years. Pass the scotch.
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