International poll on evolution
An international opinion poll of public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries was reported by FOXnews. The poll results are shown on Panda's Thumb. The countries polled were the USA, Japan, Turkey, and countries in Europe and the Mediterranean. Turkey showed the lowest public acceptance of evolution and the USA was second lowest.
I wonder why the poll was so narrow geographically and culturally. All the countries polled were European except for the USA, Japan, Turkey, and the possible exception of Cyprus, and all are overwhelmingly or predominantly Christian except for Turkey and Japan. According to the poll results, the European countries with the greatest public acceptance of evolution are in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Japan is also among the countries with the highest acceptance of evolution.
At least these poll results help correct the common misconception that rejection and skepticism of evolution are mainly American phenomena. And contrary to the fearmongering of the Darwinists, the international differences shown in this study would not be great enough to threaten the international competitiveness of the USA even if public acceptance of evolution had anything to do with that competitiveness.
The FOXNews article also discussed the US trends over the years:
At the outset, it should be noted that caution should be used in comparing the results of different polls because a lot depends on what questions are asked. In a recent formal poll of physicians, the same people were asked different questions about belief in evolution and the results were markedly different, e.g., when asked, "what are your views on evolution -- accept, reject, or undecided," 78% responded, "accept," and when asked "do you agree more with evolution or more with intelligent design -- evolution, intelligent design, or no opinion," 63% responded "evolution." The above poll results in FOXNews show that the public acceptance of evolution in the US has held fairly steady over the past 20 years, assuming that the poll questions were essentially the same. I find that result to be a little surprising because I thought that all the recent publicity about the evolution controversy would have resulted in a significant increase in public skepticism of evolution because people who formerly took evolution for granted would supposedly have started questioning it and seen how many flaws it really has (that was certainly the case for me).
Also, it is unfortunate that formal polls of scientists' -- particularly biologists' -- opinions about evolution have been scarcer than hens' teeth, because the opportunity to observe trends in scientists' opinions has been lost. Despite the great importance that is attached to scientists' -- particularly biologists' -- opinions about evolution, there is no great effort to correct this lack of opinion polls.
The FOXNews article also said,
"Their theologies' acceptance of evolution"? So far as I know, no mainstream Christian denomination has a doctrinal or official position on evolution. And one of the Darwinists' favorite quote mines is Pope John Paul II's statement that "evolution is more than just a hypothesis."
Also, the hypocritical National Center for Science Education shamelessly uses religion to promote Darwinism while at the same time condemning alleged religious motivations of critics of Darwinism -- see "Hypocritical Darwinists shamelessly cozy up to religion" on this blog.
I wonder why the poll was so narrow geographically and culturally. All the countries polled were European except for the USA, Japan, Turkey, and the possible exception of Cyprus, and all are overwhelmingly or predominantly Christian except for Turkey and Japan. According to the poll results, the European countries with the greatest public acceptance of evolution are in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Japan is also among the countries with the highest acceptance of evolution.
At least these poll results help correct the common misconception that rejection and skepticism of evolution are mainly American phenomena. And contrary to the fearmongering of the Darwinists, the international differences shown in this study would not be great enough to threaten the international competitiveness of the USA even if public acceptance of evolution had anything to do with that competitiveness.
The FOXNews article also discussed the US trends over the years:
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 also declined, from 48 to 39 percent.
— And the percentage of adults who were unsure increased, from 7 to 21 percent.
At the outset, it should be noted that caution should be used in comparing the results of different polls because a lot depends on what questions are asked. In a recent formal poll of physicians, the same people were asked different questions about belief in evolution and the results were markedly different, e.g., when asked, "what are your views on evolution -- accept, reject, or undecided," 78% responded, "accept," and when asked "do you agree more with evolution or more with intelligent design -- evolution, intelligent design, or no opinion," 63% responded "evolution." The above poll results in FOXNews show that the public acceptance of evolution in the US has held fairly steady over the past 20 years, assuming that the poll questions were essentially the same. I find that result to be a little surprising because I thought that all the recent publicity about the evolution controversy would have resulted in a significant increase in public skepticism of evolution because people who formerly took evolution for granted would supposedly have started questioning it and seen how many flaws it really has (that was certainly the case for me).
Also, it is unfortunate that formal polls of scientists' -- particularly biologists' -- opinions about evolution have been scarcer than hens' teeth, because the opportunity to observe trends in scientists' opinions has been lost. Despite the great importance that is attached to scientists' -- particularly biologists' -- opinions about evolution, there is no great effort to correct this lack of opinion polls.
The FOXNews article also said,
But the problem is more than one of education — it goes deeper, and is a function of our country's culture and history, said study co-author Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, Calif.
"The rejection of evolution is not something that will be solved by throwing science at it," Scott said in a telephone interview . . . .
Scott says one thing that will help is to have Catholics and mainstream Protestants speak up about their theologies' acceptance of evolution.
"Their theologies' acceptance of evolution"? So far as I know, no mainstream Christian denomination has a doctrinal or official position on evolution. And one of the Darwinists' favorite quote mines is Pope John Paul II's statement that "evolution is more than just a hypothesis."
Also, the hypocritical National Center for Science Education shamelessly uses religion to promote Darwinism while at the same time condemning alleged religious motivations of critics of Darwinism -- see "Hypocritical Darwinists shamelessly cozy up to religion" on this blog.
posted by Larry Fafarman | 8/11/2006 09:21:00 PM
6 Comments:
The rejection of evolution in Turkey can be explained by the relatively low level of education there. In the case of the U.S., it is due to the large number of religious fundamentalists since nearly all of the opposition to evolution is based on religious grounds.
As far as polls having any relation to validity, we must remember that a recent BBC poll showed a majority of the population believing that the world was only about 6000 years old and there was a significant minority, including the dolt who hosts this forum, who believe that the moon landings were faked.
Voice In The Urbanass said --
>>>>>The rejection of evolution in Turkey can be explained by the relatively low level of education there. <<<<<<
Not necessarily -- see the NCSE article "Cloning Creationism in Turkey"
Actually, I think that if everything else is equal, less-educated people are more likely than more-educated people to defer to the opinions of "experts." I think that well-educated people want to take advantage of their good educations by thinking for themselves.
>>>>>In the case of the U.S., it is due to the large number of religious fundamentalists since nearly all of the opposition to evolution is based on religious grounds. <<<<<<
If Darwinists had any evidence that "nearly all of the opposition to evolution is based on religious grounds," they would have presented such evidence a long time ago.
Good grief Fake Larry(?). Again you don't understand the comments to which you feebly attempting to reply.
>>>>>The rejection of evolution in Turkey can be explained by the relatively low level of education there. <<<<<<
> Not necessarily -- see the NCSE article "Cloning Creationism in Turkey" <
As usual, the dumbass refers to an article that has nothing to do with the point that he is trying to refute.
> Actually, I think that if everything else is equal, less-educated people are more likely than more-educated people to defer to the opinions of "experts." <
Then you will have to explain why those with the least education are the ones fighting against evolution.
> I think that well-educated people want to take advantage of their good educations by thinking for themselves. <
Yes. They don't let religious fanatics try to replace science with vodoo, such as ID.
> If Darwinists had any evidence that "nearly all of the opposition to evolution is based on religious grounds," they would have presented such evidence a long time ago. <
They have. A great deal of it is on this blog. It is a shame that you don't read your own blog.
Voice In The Urbanass said --
>>>>>As usual, the dumbass refers to an article that has nothing to do with the point that he is trying to refute. <<<<<<
You stupid birdbrained cretin, if an alleged relatively low level of education in Turkey is not a significant factor in the high rate of public rejection of Darwinism in Turkey, why would the article even mention it? What the article shows is that there are many other factors that could account for this high rate of rejection.
>>>>>>Then you will have to explain why those with the least education are the ones fighting against evolution. <<<<<<
You fatheaded ignoramus, many of the leading critics of Darwinism are very highly educated.
> You stupid birdbrained cretin, if an alleged relatively low level of education in Turkey is not a significant factor in the high rate of public rejection of Darwinism in Turkey, why would the article even mention it? <
Larry(?), you pathetic dimwit, don't you realize that what you are saying is that the low level of education is a significant factor. It has gotten to the point that you are even arguing with yourself.
> What the article shows is that there are many other factors that could account for this high rate of rejection. <
Yes, religious fanaticism for example. I didn't say that there weren't other factors. I just said that the low level of education was a major factor, as does the article and as do you apparently. Thank you for agreeing with me.
> You fatheaded ignoramus, many of the leading critics of Darwinism are very highly educated. <
But the majority of the supporters of ID are uneducated dimwits and the vast majority of educated people are pro evolution.
I see that you again realize that you have lost the argument (as is always the case). You have been the first to engage in ad hominyms you mindless pinhead.
Chris Hyland said --
>>>>>>> "Also, it is unfortunate that formal polls of scientists' -- particularly biologists' -- opinions about evolution have been scarcer than hens' teeth, because the opportunity to observe trends in scientists' opinions has been lost."
Becuase everyone knows how it will go. <<<<<<
That's ridiculous -- what kind of a scientific attitude is that? "We already know what the results are going to be, so we don't need to run the tests."
>>>>>> The poll will show that 99% of biologists accept evolution <<<<<<
A 2002 poll of Ohio scientists showed that a small but significant minority believed that ID has scientific merit. Also, a 2005 poll showed that surprisingly high percentages of physicians are skeptical of evolution theory. See "Many physicians skeptical of Darwinism" on this blog.
>>>>>>, and then the Discovery institute will release a statement climing that these results are due to scientists fear of loosing their jobs. And no one will have learned anything. <<<<<
Wrong. These opinion polls are anonymous, so there is no peer pressure or fear of hurting one's career.
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