Posted on 10/23/2009 8:18:13 PM PDT by john in springfield
After spending time on some of the recent discussions here at FR about Young Earth Creationism (YEC) and other points of view (which I will call Old Earth Creationism (OEC) and Naturalistic Evolution), I found myself wondering: how many FReepers (and how many Americans) hold each particular view?
Obviously, there aren't any statistics on FReepers. But there are on Americans as a whole, and on certain groups of Americans.
The best general resource I've found so far on people's viewpoints is located here. I will summarize some of those here.
(Note: This page uses slightly different terms for a couple of these viewpoints, but as far as I can tell, they mean the same thing.)
About 45% accept the Young Earth Creationist viewpoint, about 37% accept the Old Earth Creationist viewpoint, and around 12% to 14% accept the Naturalistic Evolution viewpoint.
This has held fairly steady over the past 25 years or so. The percentage who believe in NE may have increased slightly, but overall, the numbers have held fairly steady.
A CBS News poll gave a bit different percentages: YEC 55%, OEC 27%, NE 13%.
Observations:
There are a lot of people who believe in young earth creationism, and there are also a lot of people who believe in old earth creationism as well.
The vast majority of Americans believe in God.
The majority of Americans believe in evolution.
The numbers change significantly among the college-educated:
YEC: 25%
OEC: 54%
NE: 17%
It is interesting to me that most - a full 54% - college-educated Americans accept the Old-Earth Creationist (or theistic evolutionist) view.
Note also the effect that a college education seems to have: With a few exceptions, people who go to college don't stop believing in God. However, quite a few do seem to shift from YEC to OEC.
This graph also means that an awful lot of people who don't go to college believe in YEC rather than in either OEC or NE.
Note that while this poll is nearly 20 years old, based on what we know from some other polls, overall beliefs do not seem to have changed greatly during this time.
YEC: 5%
OEC: 40%
NE: 55%
Note: The word "scientist" seems to be very vague in this poll, which apparently includes a lot of people with professional degrees in fields completely unrelated to biology, geology, etc.
In any event, a majority of "scientists" don't seem to believe that God was involved in the development of life on earth. It's not a very large majority, though. "Scientists" are divided as to whether God was involved. Most of those who think He was believe that this involvement included the process of evolution.
However, given that only 5% of "scientists" support YEC, the under-1% figure may well be true. I just don't know. Nor do I have access to the original 1987 Newsweek article to see exactly how they got their information.
If there's another poll or two out there on this, it might be interesting to know about.
A 2007 Harris Poll showed the following percentages of Christians who accept the theory of evolution:
Catholics: 43%
Protestants: 30%
"Born-Again Christians": 16%
Finally, a 2005 CBS Poll stated that a full two thirds (67%) of Americans believe that it's possible for one to believe both in God and in evolution.
Speaking of personal attacks, you were issuing personal attacks against your fellow FReepers from the get-go. Very unusual behavior for a n00b. What did you say your last screenname was again, Mr. Retread?
Is that why you can’t make up your mind if God exists or not? Please!
IDer expert Behe testified under oath that God must be dead.
Since 2006-01-04.
Thanks for the post. Interesting stuff. Great comment generator. I love watching the atheists lose their minds.
That is why government power must be kept to legitimate government powers, while letting free enterprise handle other aspects. A politicized economy lookes like Soviet Union, politicized medicine looks like Auschwitz, politicized transportation looks like the Indian Motor Railway system. Politicized religion looks like the Papacy.
Why don't you fill us all in on who granted you authority to establish the rules of the discussion and adjudicate the belief systems discussed. You project questions not asked in your daily screed and demand you be answered as some high judge or priest. When you pray to God, assuming you do, you speak with a single voice. That is all you represent in these threads too. If you can't disagree without being disagreeable....STFU.
If I have made a personal attack on any person, rather than upon the content of their post, then I will apologize for it.
So far, your extensive searching has failed to produce that, but if you can find it, then I will apologize.
Will you do the same?
The answer, evidently, is: No. You have made personal attacks repeatedly. There are a great number of examples in this one thread. And yet you have steadfastly refused to apologize for your inexcusable behavior.
In doing so, you are mocking what Christian faith, and Christian life, is supposed to be about. You have no answer for the basic Christian principles I've mentioned to you, or for your behaving in a way that is diametrically opposite of what God expects of His children - except to continue attempting to deflect the focus from your own treatment of others by trying to discredit others.
“How would you know how a Christian is supposed to behave.”
My understanding of Christianity is far superior to yours, you contemptible fraud.
I don’t know whether you picked up on it, but GGG’s remark was directed towards me. He was copying you in. :-)
This time. We have all been in the cross hairs. Those who have been here a while recognize the approach to Christianity to be "If you don't agree with my interpretations of the bible, exactly they way I say I will rip off you head in the name of Sweet Baby Jesus and crap down your neck". [Stand by for some to take that allegorical comment literally and demand my permanent banning.]
That means a lot coming from an evo-atheist who pretends to be Christian while denouncing genuine Christians in the name of Christianity. I have asked you numerous times if Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, and you have refused to answer each time. All Christians confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. You are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. There is no debating you, there is only exposing you as per Matthew 7:15-20. Let me know if you ever become an actual Christian (or are at least willing to be honest and admit that you are an evo-atheist disruptor posing as a Christian). Until then, buzz-off imposter.
Wow, is that what it’s like to be you. Sounds like you could use a litte Listerine...yuck!
GGG is the only one here that lost it.
I know—I hope you didn’t think I was addressing you. He copied me on his lame outburst. I guess he was proud of it—I just chuckled.
Metmom won't declare that God is the Intelligent Designer.
Matthew 7:15-20 addresses you, you contemptible fraud.
Actually, I didn’t plan on going through every post. I reached the end very quickly because you’re a n00b. However, if you would be willing to tell me your former screenname, I’d be glad to go through those too. I’d be curious to see what got you banned last time around.
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